Amazon
by KodochiiR
Summary: A young girl is taken from Earth, to the Maple World...all because she possesses Mana Vigor. This skill could grant her a great amount of power, but it could also put her in grave danger. People are relentless for power...relentless...
1. Amazon: To A New World

**Hello Fan-Fiction! I'm making my first Maplestory fanfic, Amazon. It's one of those, "oh my god I got sucked in!" storys, but it's more than that. It has Romance, friendships, blahblahblah, you know the rest. :D So I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!**

**Before you start reading, I'll give out a little description on what the story's about. It's about a regular school girl from Florida named Aundrea who gets (DUNDUNDUN) sucked in to the world of Maplestory by an evil force because she has a special power known as Mana Vigor which enables her to concentrate all her power into one powerful and destructive shot.**

**Well, enough said...so ENJOY!~**

* * *

><p>"Wake up! It's time for your match!"<p>

"…"

"Five more minutes…!" A voice muffled. The voice belonged to a small-framed girl about 5,3 was sprawled across her bed, face down. Her long, auburn hair was spread all over her sides as she lay there, motionless.

"I mean it, Aundrea!"

Aundrea groaned and sat up on her bed. She quickly got off the mattress, causing her to slightly stumble across the floor; she was definitely not a morning person. Aundrea walked over to her bathroom mirror and brushed her hair into her trademark side pony-tails. Afterwards, she slipped on her archery team outfit, courtesy of the Sarasota Archery Team.

Overall, Aundrea was a pretty average teenage girl except that she was the club leader of a kick ass archery team who was going to be competing in her archery state championships.

"Come on, Aundrea! You'll be late!"

"Hold up, Mom! My hair tie is becoming loose!" Aundrea yelled back, tightening her hair scrunchy.

Her mother impatiently groaned, annoyed at the fact the lead shooter of the Sarasota team was going to be unfashionably late for her first state championship. Aundrea ran down the stairs and grabbed a stray granola bar from the kitchen table, eating it in two, quick bites. She followed her mom out of the house into their average Honda Civic. After her mom closed the front door of the car, she spoke up.

"Your dad is going to be so proud of you once you win the competition!"

"If I win! The Emporias are a pretty good team, but we can still beat them if we try our hardest." Aundrea replied, and then boasted, "I mean, we're the best in the county."

"…And their team is from another county, so they could be a bit of a challenge…" Her mom replied.

"Well, they don't scare me, I'll kick their asses if I have to!" Aundrea yelled, a bit too loud, causing bypassing drivers to stare.

"That's my confident girl! Kicking butt when she has to!" Her mom chimed in, appreciating Aundrea's flamboyant and poised attitude.

After the short drive to the competition center, Aundrea carefully scrutinized the large, spacey archery field; crowds of people gathered around it. In the surrounding crowd, a group of people held large grey bows, those people, of course, were the Sarasota archers. Across from the field, a large, expensive looking bus parked on the side. On the side of the bus, there was a banner with large letters that read "Emporia," the competing team. People with jerseys and long bows came out of the bus; that was the Sarasota's competition.

Unfortunately, Aundrea was intimidated when she saw the opposing team come out of the bus. Their jerseys looked like what you would see in a sports magazine, decorated nicely and personally made which made the players look like professionals. Aundrea usually was never overwhelmed, which made the situation worse.

'_Why can't the Sarasota's afford sweet uniforms and a personal vehicle like theirs?_' Aundrea thought with a hint of jealousy.

"All right; you go to the field and I'll find somewhere to park, okay?" Aundrea's mom spoke up.

"Ok, see you at the field." Aundrea replied, her incredulous feelings getting the better of her.

'_Ugh! What am I thinking? Of course we can beat those spoiled brats! Just because the Sarasota team looks less professional than the Emporias doesn't mean they'll automatically win!_' Aundrea screamed in her head.

The Auburn haired teen took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, letting go of all her negative feelings. With induced confidence, she began to walk up to the archery field.

"Yo! Aundrea!"

Aundrea immediately spun back at the familiar voice; It belonged to her bestest friend in the entire world, Stacy. Following Stacy, Chrissy, her other friend, eagerly waved at her.

"Hey guys!" Aundrea greeted back.

"How's our future archery winner doing?" Chrissy asked, with obvious excitement in her voice.

"Great, but you should have seen my competition, they're uniforms are amazing and the bows look so professionally made! Oh and don't forget about their ride! It looks like friggen limo, I mean how the hell do they afford-!"

"Aundrea! Calm down!" Stacy laughed, interrupting Aundrea's incessant rambling, "And don't worry, Chrissy and I will be cheering on for you."

"Please do." Aundrea grinned, "I need all the boost I can get, cause If I don't win this; I'll be toast."

'Well, it's just a game…the whole point of this is to have fun; you don't have to be so competitive."

The three girls ceased to silence, not saying anything for a short while.

"Nahh." Me and Chrissy spoke up.

"It's not just a game, it's her destiny to see whether her team goes on to the nationals!" Chrissy laughed as Aundrea nodded.

"Guys!" Stacy laughed back, "You're ruining the whole point of this-!"

"Archery Tournament Sarasota vs Emporia begins in five minutes!"

The sudden announcement came from Aundrea's Dad, who was using speakers. He was the official coach of the Sarasotas which made the whole competition twice as important for Aundrea. Just like Aundrea, he was a very competitive person; people often say she inherited her competitive spirit from her father.

"Oh crud! I forgot, I need to change into my jersey!" Aundrea shouted, but she felt someone tug onto her shirt.

She turned around and saw a shorter girl with short, auburn pig-tails, just like hers. The look-a-like was her little sister, Claire.

"What?" Aundrea rudely said.

"Don't 'what' me! Mom said for me to make sure you're not causing any trouble!" Claire grinned, being the annoying sibling she always was.

"She did not say that." Aundrea said, pursing her lips in slight irritation.

"How do you know?"

"I'm not stupid, you drove here with Dad!"

"Fine..you got me on that, well…make sure not loose..." Claire stuck her tongue out, "…or Dad'll kill you!"

"Whatever, I need to change! Go to Mom, she's probably waiting at the bleachers by now!" Aundrea said, pushing her little sister aside, and then waved to her friends, "Bye Chrissy! Bye Stacy!"

"Bye!" Stacy and Chrissy chorused, "Good luck!"

After changing into her plain, not so ornate uniform, Aundrea ran out to the field to meet her teammates.

"Ok, everyone get into your positions!" Aundrea's dad called out.

Aundrea's and her teammates arranged into a single file line, Aundrea being the second person from the front of her line. Their competition, the Emporias, lined up across from them.

"Each line behind a target must consist of alternate teams!" He said, "Any failure to oblige to the rules will result in suspension, same goes for Emporia! Now we're introducing our top five: Mary Jones, Lei Taylor, Annie Levingston, Jerry Brown, and my daughter and top shooter, Aundrea Flemming!"

Everyone from the bleachers eagerly clapped. Aundrea smiled when she heard shouts and voices screaming out in anticipation. A couple of people screamed out her name, one of them probably being Chrissy.

"First person to shoot is Levingston followed by Couper from Emporia."

Levingston picked up her bow, then carefully drew the arrow, aiming it at the target. She immediately shot; the arrow hit the leather target with a hard thud.

"Oh! Close to the bullseye! A score of 50 for Sarasota, next up is Couper from Emporia!"

Couper knocked, drew the arrow, slowly making sure to get a precise aim. He finally shot the arrow.

"Oh my! A bullseye! 100 points for Emporia which means they are leading by 50! Next is Flemming!" Aundrea's dad shouted.

"Go Aundrea!" Her mom shouted from the bleachers, "Go for the bull's-eye!"

People clapped as Aundrea picked up her composite bow. She carefully aimed…drew back the arrow…and shot.

"Yes!" Aundrea chanted under her breath; she scored a 100!

"A 100 for Flemming!" Her dad announced, then whispered, "Great shooting!"

"I'll get another perfect score for you, Dad!" Aundrea whispered back.

"You better, cause if we win, we'll celebrate!" Her father urged, "This is the state finals so this means a lot to us! Loose and you start over from county competition which means flunking for a year! So win or die!"

"All right!" Aundrea said, not surprised by her father's over confidence.

'_I know I'm going to win, I'll show everyone that I can win Finals easy, no doubt_.' Aundrea thought.

"Next is Michaels from Emporia!"

"A 25 for Emporia!"

"A 50 for Sarasota!"

"A 75 for Emporia!"

"A 100 for Sarasota!"

"Another 100 for Emporia! This is getting to be a crazy tie-breaker! Aundrea you're up next!" Aundrea's father yelled through the speaker, anxious but excited at the same time.

Aundrea took her bow and hit a 50.

`_Damn! What's wrong with me today?_' Aundrea bit my lip at my upsetting hit.

Aundrea took deep, slow breaths, calming herself down. She had to win this.

"A 25 for Emporia!"

"Levingston."

Levingston scored a 25. In Aundrea's standards, they were doing okay, but not good enough.

After 30 minutes elapsed, it was time for the final shot since Sarasota and Emporia were both tied to 1705.

"Okay…this is the moment of truth…to see who gets to move onto the nationals and who loses which ends up in team suspension, for a year! The best shooter of each team, go knock your arrow to the bow and prepare to shoot! First up is Emporia!"

The people in the bleachers began to clap, causing the tension to heat up even more.

Couper, the best shooter from the Celticas aimed and shot; he hit a 75.

'_Oh crud…that means I need a 100 to win!_' Aundrea said, her thoughts running all over the place.

"Aundrea Flemming! From the Blitz!" Her dad yelled, and then walked over to Aundrea.

"You can do it! Just score a 100 and you got yourself a trophy, state championships, and a special family surprise!" He said to me, "All you need is to beat the score of 1780!"

"Okay." Aundrea nervously said.

Aundrea walked towards my bow; it felt like ages before she reached it because of all the pressure put onto her. As she walked, the audience's cheering seemed to escalate, becoming louder…and faster.

"Aundrea! Aundrea! Aundrea! Aundrea!" They chanted.

'_I have to win! I need to win this championship!_'

"I can do this…" Aundrea said to herself, calming down.

She shook herself of the tense feeling and nervousness, before knocking her arrow onto her bow. Aundrea began to aim towards the target.

Just when she was about to shoot, a blood-shrieking scream echoed throughout the atmosphere. Aundrea's head immediately throbbed in pain, causing her to drop her bow and hold her head in desperation and agony. Her head felt like it was going to explode any minute, into a million pieces.

Struggling, Aundrea squint her eyes open and looked up at the sky.

The sky was crimson red.

"What the…" Aundrea grunted, still clutching her head, noticing bolts of lightning flashing around the firmament.

It didn't look like any regular thunderstorm, the sky was literally red. But something else was very wrong; nobody was in sight, except for Aundrea. The bleachers were empty as well as the archery field.

"H-hello?" Aundrea's frightened voice echoed.

She didn't hear anything.

In a matter of seconds, Aundrea heard a loud roar; she turned around and saw a mysterious hooded figure walking towards her. Not knowing what to do, Aundrea slowly backed away, fearful of what that unusually creature could be capable of.

Surprising her, the figure stopped in its tracks; Aundrea's heart began to beat rapidly.

"You are the chosen one, young amazon." The hooded figure spoke up, his large, crimson hood hiding his identity, "You belong with us."

Unbeknownst to Aundrea, a large rock behind her caused her to fall backwards. To her disadvantage, the hooded figure quickly took this as a chance to grab her arm. Aundrea let out a stifled gasp when she saw the figure's bony hands clasped onto her thin wrist.

"Let go!" Aundrea shrieked, struggling to break free from his strong grip.

He didn't reply. Instead he used his free hand to wave across the ground, causing a rather deep pit to form against the ground.

Not wasting any time, the hooded figure pushed Aundrea into the bottomless pit.

Aundrea screamed for her dear life, falling into the never ending depth of the pit.

Instantaneously, everything around her turned to pure darkness…

* * *

><p><strong>I promise this will get better! This is a the first chapter and I wanted to get the introductions out of the way so I could get to the juicy bits! :3 Please R&amp;R, I don't care if it's anonymous, just review! I want to know what you guys think of this! Feel free to ask any question &amp; I'll pm you as fast as I can!<strong>

**The second chapter will be coming up soon! (DUNDUNDUN) Maple –cough- world!**

**Now, I'll post the main character(s)… (As I go further through the story I'll add in more of the characters, so look down here if you want more info on them!)**

**Aundrea Flemming**

Age: 16

Height: 5,3.5 (About 163 Cm)

Characteristics: Stubborn, Competitive (Of course..), Loudmouthed, Short-tempered, Friendly at times, Tomboyish


	2. Amazon: New Surroundings

**A/N(UPDATE, 9/25): I edited some of the dialogue for this chapter, quite a bit so It could sound more realistic & I think I fixed most of the typos. (Thank you Marco2050, Nekomimi Toree, and Moonarose for the helpful reviews! :D)**

* * *

><p>Drip…Drop…Drip…<p>

Drops of water cascaded from sharp stalactites onto the surface of Aundrea's face. She felt this repetitive sensation causing her to rub open her eyes. She looked around her surroundings and saw rocks and ledges with spots of grass implanted on them; trees were surrounded the entire area. The area had a dark and murky atmosphere to it, unlike any place Aundrea has ever seen before.

"What in the world…?" Aundrea whispered to herself, completely and utterly confused.

Then it hit her.

She fell through a long hole…and somehow ended up in this place…or cave of some sort. What startled her the most was the fact that the robed man who pushed her into the pit mysteriously vanished. Aundrea closed her eyes shook her head, trying to wake herself from this unusual dream.

She opened her eyes and nothing changed.

'_Come on Aundrea, wake up…you're so out of it today; you didn't have enough food to eat last night, that's it_!'

With growing tense, Aundrea repeatedly pinched her arm, but her attempts to wake herself were futile.

Aundrea slightly twitched; she heard quiet growling noises creep from behind her. She slowly turned around, heart beating faster and faster until she was inches away from the most hideous creature she had ever seen.

It had yellow, scaly skin which looked coarse to the touch with a long tail that made up most of its body. Its mouth was open, showing its toothy grin with sticky drool dripping off of it. What made its appearance though was its large eyeball that stuck out from its horrid face. Aundrea froze for a moment, completely petrified by the monster's sudden appearance. Her heart felt like as if it was going to bounce off her chest any minute.

In a matter of seconds Aundrea ran for her dear life. She turned around and saw the monster chasing her with its two scaly feet. Not knowing where she was going to end up, Aundrea occasionally bumped into several tree branches, getting scratches and slight cuts on her arms. Unfortunately, the monster was gaining up on her. She tried to outrun it, but it was quickly catching up. With effort, the yellow creature whacked Aundrea with its long tail, causing her to fly straight into a tree.

"Aghh!" Aundrea cried, her back landing on the tough, wooden exterior of the plant.

She tried standing up, but she couldn't; the pain was too much. Aundrea let out a subdued gasp as the monster was crawling closer to her. Aundrea's eyes widened when she conveniently saw a small, blue bow with a pack of arrows next to it. Without hesitation, she grabbed the bow and arrows and aimed for the monster as it came closer. With all her force, she pulled back the string and shot.

Aundrea immediately backed up when the arrow turned into red sparks of energy. Not giving the monster any time to screech in pain, the arrow perfectly collided with the monster, causing it to explode into a several chunks of skin and flesh. Aundrea closed her eyes, obviously disturbed by the horrific sight she just witnessed.

'_How did I do that…?_' were the words that echoed in her mind as she felt a spontaneous pang of lightheadedness. Before Aundrea completely lost her consciousness, she noticed a blurry figure walking towards her.

_Although you've passed the test, your job isn't over yet, Amazon._

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

"Ah!" Aundrea shouted, as she sat up.

She woke up, once again, but found herself on top of a small bed. A silky, white bed sheet was enveloped on top of her. She looked around and realized she was inside an old fashioned bed room. The room looked incredibly plain for Aundrea's standards. Only a wooden bookshelf and dresser stood across from her.

'_Where the hell am I?_"

A tall, middle aged woman came inside the room, making Aundrea slightly jump at her unprompted sight. She had jet black hair which was tied into a bun, but what looked awkward was the fact that she wore an overall black suit with steel boots. A long cape was secured on the back of her suit making her look like a fighter instead of any ordinary person.

"You're awake." She said in a sweet tone, "Sorry I startled you."

"W-Where am I?" Aundrea burst out.

"You're in Henesys." The woman was oblivious to Aundrea's confused tone-of-voice.

"Hehneeseys?" Aundrea slurred out, "What's…Hehneeseys? There's no such place in Florida."

"Florida? What's Florida? You're in Maple World, Victoria island." The black haired woman replied, then asked, "Do you have amnesia?"

"Wh-what…? Wait a second..! I'm in Maple World?"

"Yes…well I found you lying on the ground in Sleepywood…I thought you were dead at first, but I decided to take you in anyways." Rena replied, quite puzzled at Aundrea's vigilance.

"Sleepywood…?" Aundrea whispered to herself, then screamed in her head, '_This has to be a dream!_'

Completely fazed, Aundrea stood up; a throbbing pain began to ache in her head.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Aundrea shouted, as her head pulsed in pain. She held onto her head, falling back onto the pillow of the bed.

"Are you all right?" The woman asked.

Aundrea nodded as the pain died down, "Yeah."

"…You must have amnesia," The woman assumed, "Do you remember anything before you woke up…at all?"

Aundrea knew she couldn't tell her the truth. Telling her the truth would mean telling her that she came from Earth which would raise a lot of question between the two. Plus, she didn't know the woman at all.

"No." Aundrea lied, trying her best not to sound suspicious, "I don't…"

'_Please let this be just a bad dream, so I can wake up…'_

"Here, drink this."

The woman held onto a small bottle which had a solution of red liquid inside of it. She handed it towards Aundrea.

"Why? What is that?"

Surprised by Aundrea's sudden outburst, the woman held back the potion but regained her composure, "It'll make your headache go away and you'll feel better."

Aundrea suspiciously looked at the bottle of red liquid; she couldn't trust this stranger.

Noticing Aundrea's distrustful hesitation, the woman opened up the bottle. "Here, I'll drink some of it."

She poured some of the red liquid into a cup and drank the cup in front of Aundrea. After she placed the cup back down, she wiped her mouth with her arm. "See, no poison; it's fine."

Aundrea looked inside the cup, making sure the woman actually drank the liquid before she took the bottle. She looked slightly disgusted at the bright red color of the liquid.

"What is this?"

"Red potion, drink up, it might taste awkward but you'll get used to the taste." Aundrea nodded and quickly drank the bottled potion. She slightly grimaced at the salty taste of it before she felt sudden warmth spread throughout her body; she felt more awake and less tense. Aundrea shook her head and realized her headache was gone and the excruciating pain in her back.

"You're welcome." The woman smiled, with a teasing air to her voice.

"Oh! Uh…thanks…" Aundrea quietly said.

"So you want to come down and eat breakfast with us?" She asked, "It might get your mind off of all this."

"Wait! D-did you see me kill that monster? Did you see what happen?" Aundrea curiously asked, forgetting to lie about her amnesia. She had to know how she killed that monster in one measly hit.

The woman slightly raised her eyebrow, slightly confused at the fact about Aundrea's "amnesia."

"Yes I did, but…wait a minute; I thought you couldn't remember anything before you woke up…"

"Oh! Uh..w-what I meant was that I don't remember anything before that happened." Aundrea slightly stuttered, worried that the stranger would know something was up with her.

The woman paused with suspicion about Aundrea's nervous and fast paced talking, but shrugged it off, "Well…I don't know how you managed to kill that evil eye…but are you in your 4th job?"

"What's that…?"

"Oh, never mind…you can't remember anything…but, still…how did you do that?"

"I don't know…" Aundrea replied, rubbing her head, "I just happened to find a bow…and shot it at the evil eye, it felt like my insides were burning up. And before I knew it, I woke up here."

There was short pause, slightly worrying Aundrea.

"…I think that's Mana Vigor! Not even people in their second jobs can do that! You're just a beginner…!" The woman exclaimed.

"Wait! Wait a minute…what's second job, fourth job, and all of that?" Aundrea asked, becoming muddled in her unfamiliar wording.

"Ah…first job is when you turn into one of the ten jobs available which belong to the Cygnus Knights and regular Adventurers. There also legends and special jobs out there but since you definitely didn't come from Ereve, you're technically an adventurer…with Mana Vigor." She explained, "Second, third, and fourth job is much later. Second job is of course the second advancement and so on, while fourth is the strongest. But only fourth jobs can have the power of Mana Vigor I'm just going to assume you're a beginner, which is before first job, of course."

"But how is it that I have Mana-Vigor, but haven't even reached first job yet?" Aundrea asked, catching on.

"…I have no idea…but you are special indeed; I think you're a natural Vigorer because you've had it since…you were born, I guess. This probably makes it at least ten times more powerful than the regular fourth job Mana Vigor once it progresses. So don't ever tell anyone that incredible skill of yours, unless if it's someone you can trust. _If anyone knows, they could be after your power so they can use it for themselves_."

The last few words of her sentence, frightened Audrea; she anxiously nodded at the woman.

"…And from what I know, make sure you don't use Mana Vigor, only for special cases since you haven't reached your fourth job yet. Wait – don't even use it; I think that's what caused you to pass out." She said, "But…after lunch maybe my daughter and son will help you get a job advancement of your choosing. You might as well start over."

"Ok…" Aundrea sighed, surprised at how easily she could trust this woman, but she was the only person she knew in this "world." At least it was better than being on her own to fend for herself.

'_This all is probably just a dream, after all…_' Aundrea thought, trying to get her hopes high.

"This means you'll be in your first job; you'll be slightly more powerful."

Aundrea apprehensively nodded her head. She kept on wondering; was she ever going to go back home or stay here forever? What were her parents doing; were they getting police to search for her? What happened to her archery match? She didn't even want to think about it; just the fact about ending up in this mysterious world freaked her out.

"Aren't you coming?" The woman spoke up, interrupting Aundrea's train of thoughts. She was leaving towards the door.

"Oh! Yeah…sorry; I-I spaced out." Aundrea nodded.

Aundrea easily got off the bed because of the effects of the red potion. When she left the room she saw a narrow flight of wooden stairs, leading to the first floor. Each time she stepped on the stairs, a sharp creak would echo throughout the house. As she went closer down the stairs, she could smell a sweet, toasty aroma envelop the inside of the house. When they reached downstairs, Aundrea spotted a girl with long, jet black hair and medium cut bangs; she had large, prominent blue eyes. On her olive skin, she wore a blue tank top with puffy blue pants and strapped leather boots that were also colored blue.

"Hey! You're finally awake! What's your name?" The girl asked; she had a cheery, optimistic air to her voice.

"I-I'm Aundrea."

"Mine's is Sera, and if my mother hadn't introduced herself yet; her name is Rena." Sera grinned.

"Oh…my bad." Sera's Mom, Rena, laughed, "I'm so forgetful today."

Sera held a plate full of large orange circles; they kind of looked like mushroom caps by their curved shapes. Aundrea eyed them with interest as her stomach growled.

"So, are you okay?" Sera asked, worried about the condition Aundrea was in when she was taken to Rena's house.

"…Yeah." Aundrea replied, surprised at how the girl wasn't piling her with questions. She was even more surprised at the girl's friendly and unsuspicious attitude towards her.

"Here have some." Sera said.

"Uhh…what is that exactly?" Aundrea asked, pointing to the plate of orange circles.

"Broiled mushroom cap; my mom made it." Sera smiled, "It's really popular here in Henesys."

Aundrea, who was a big fan of trying new foods, took a nibble out of the mushroom cap. It had a sweet taste and a crusty mouth-feel to it. Aundrea nodded in approval.

"This is really good!" Aundrea grinned, not noticing she was talking with her mouth full.

"Thanks, I knew you'd like it!" Sera smiled.

"Ok, you guys, I'll be out at the free market for a while. Sera, when Shino comes back, take Aundrea to get her job advancement, okay?" Rena spoke up.

"All right." Sera replied, "Bye, Mom!"

"Okay, see you guys later!" Rena replied, leaving the front door.

"Bye and thank you for everything!" Aundrea smiled.

"You're very welcome." Sera's mom left, leaving the two alone.

"So, who's Shino?" Aundrea spoke up, her curiosity growing once again.

"He's my older brother, didn't my mom tell you?" Sera laughed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Aundrea replied, and then asked, "So what exactly are the jobs for advancement?"

"Swordsman, Magician, Archer, Rogue, and Pirate are the original adventurer jobs. The Cygnus knights are the Dawn warrior, the Wind Archer, uhh…the Blaze Wizard, the Nightwalker, and the Thunder Breaker. Then there are legends, which I don't really know about." Sera replied.

"An archer! Hey I'm really good at ar-" Aundrea stopped, then realized she had to fake having amnesia so she wouldn't raise any type of suspicion, "Uhh, what I meant is that archery sounds really interesting; I could definitely become one."

"Yeah! Athena Pierce is the bowman instructor. She teaches here in Henesys, so it won't be a problem getting your job advancement here when it's only just a few blocks from our house." Sera grinned, not noticing Aundrea's hesistation.

Aundrea bit onto another orange mushroom cap. "So what job are you?"

"I'm a rogue, a to-be assassin, my mother is also an assassin but she's retired cause she wanted to start a family and take care of us. Shino is a Nightwalker though because our father came from Ereve and Shino wanted to follow his father's footsteps, so we went on a short trip to Ereve for him to become a Nightwalker. A Nightwalker is basically the Cygnus Knight Rogue." Sera replied.

"Wow…Rogues seem to run in your family then, so what about your father? Is he also a Nightwalker?" Aundrea asked, already engaged in this conversation.

"Yes, he was a Nightwalker, at his third job. But he's passed now…"

"Oh…I'm sorry, I didn't mean t-"

"Oh no! It's okay; we try not to think about it too much, plus our dad wouldn't want us to be upset and mournful all the time, so don't worry about it." Sera smiled.

Aundrea and Sera heard a couple of light knocks on the door.

"Oh! That must be Shino!" Sera said, sitting up to go open the front door.

Aundrea smiled, surprised at how welcoming Rena and Sera were. She was even more surprised how she could trust Sera's mom with her very important secret. Even though she just met these people, they were probably the only ones she could trust, because they were the only ones she knew in the "enigmatic" Maple World. But what disturbed her the most, was the question at how she had Mana Vigor if she didn't even come from Maple World.

"Welcome back, Shino!" Sera grinned, from the room next door.

"Hey."

The quiet voice belonged to Sera's brother, known as Shino. When Aundrea saw Shino make his entrance to the kitchen, she couldn't help but ogle at the presence of the male. Aundrea thought Shino looked completely and utterly attractive. He had shaggy, jet black hair complemented his olive skin, just like his sister. He wore a China top with similar pants that had blue tracing on his sleeves. Unfortunately, Shino didn't notice Aundrea's presence.

'_He is so…_'

"…Hot." Sera said, interrupting Aundrea's thoughts.

"Wha?" Aundrea said, completely confused.

"I said it's so hot. Usually, Henesys doesn't have such warm weather." Sera replied, "But, anyways, Aundrea, this is Shino, my brother. Shino, this is Aundrea, she's new here."

Aundrea faced Shino and shyly said, "Hi…"

Shino stared at Aundrea for a moment then faced Sera…not saying anything.

`_Huh? H-he didn't even say hi back…or at least wave to me…Maybe he was surprised at the fact that I was here in the first place_.' Aundrea tried dismissing her negative thoughts that were slightly creeping on her.

"So, Aundrea will be staying with us for a while because…uhh." Sera trailed off, forgetting the fact why Aundrea was staying with them.

"I have amnesia." Aundrea lied, "So, I don't remember a thing…"

"Yeah, so we're going to Athena's training office so she can become an archer." Sera smiled, "Well then; let's go!"

Sera opened the front door to let Aundrea and Shino come out first. When Aundrea was about to go through the front door, Shino slightly pushed against her to leave first. Unfortunately, Sera didn't notice this. Aundrea raised her eyebrows, baffled.

'_What's his deal?_' Aundrea frowned, crossing her arms.

When Sera closed the front door, Aundrea wowed at the sight of Henesys. It looked nothing like the places back at earth. All the houses were shaped like mushrooms with an orange cap making the roof, including Sera's house. Grass was everywhere except for a long winding stone walkway that connected all of the houses and buildings. Busy mothers were holding onto their kid's hands, pushing through the busy crowds. Groups of friends were gathered around, either hanging out, having small picnics or probably shopping. Novice merchants surrounded the large area, selling their "valuable" possessions. Basically, many people were walking from place to place, making Henesys look incredibly busy.

"So where's Athena's place?" Aundrea asked.

Shino flashed Aundrea a slight glare, getting a bewildered look from her.

'_What the hell is his problem?'_Aundrea screamed in her head. She didn't even know this guy and she was already getting attitude from him.

"Athena's school is in Mushroom Park which is right there actually!" Sera grinned, pointing to a grey arched statue with the words "Mushroom Park" engraved onto it.

They walked through the statues entrance. To Aundrea's surprise, there weren't much people, just several statues decorating the area. Aundrea spotted a large statue of a person riding a horse. The statue carried a bow, aiming it.

"That's uhh…I forgot his name, but he was a really famous ranger…before he died. He was killed by Valor, the same spirit who summoned Barlogs on our-"

"You talk too much. Why don't you put your chatter to good use for once?" Shino interrupted.

Aundrea grimaced at Shino's rude and self-centered tone-of-voice.

"I'm just telling Aundrea about Henesys. What's with you today; you slept on the wrong side of the bed?" Sera gawked.

'_Thank you, Sera!_'

"Yeah, I guess that's the reason; I just had to wake up to this." Shino mumbled.

"Whatever; let's go Aundrea." Sera grabbed Aundrea's hand and led her to a fairly large mushroom house. It was decoratively built with vines adorning it. It looked more elaborate than the other mushroom houses. To Aundrea's surprise, it relatively looked like a mini skyscraper.

"Is that Athena's house?"

"Yeah." Sera replied, and then knocked on the wooden door, "I just hope she's here."

A short, middle aged woman with messy blonde hair opened the door. She gave the two girls a friendly smile.

"Oh, it's good to see you, Sera Terraice! How's your mom, is she making good profits this year?" Athena greeted.

"She's doing great, but my friend here wants to get a job advancement." Sera smiled.

Athena faced Aundrea, "What's your name?"

"I'm Aundrea Flemming." She replied.

"So , you're here to become a archer, right?"

Aundrea nodded her head. "Yes."

"Well then, come upstairs with me, we have a lot to do." Athena replied.

Before Aundrea came inside Athena's training house, Sera mouthed to Aundrea good luck. She nervously nodded her head, nervous about what might be coming for her. As Athena and Aundrea walked upstairs, Aundrea spotted dozens and dozens of books and files that were clearly unorganized. She also saw several wooden targets that were misplaced in the clutter.

"So have you had any past training experience?" Athena asked.

"Uhh…" Aundrea paused for a split second, thinking about the Sarasota archery club she was in, then replied, "Well yes, I have…a lot actually."

"Hmm…I can see it in you." Athena replied.

Aundrea sighed in relief, afraid that Athena was going to ask **where** she got that "past training experience". Even better, Aundrea was suprised that Athena didn't notice her mana-vigor considering that she was a job instructor.

"Give me your hand." Athena said, "I will grant you your job, with this you'll not only feel stronger, but you will be."

Aundrea held out her hand.

"Before you become an official archer, I want to give you some warnings…"

'_Oh…here we go…_'

"…Getting your first job is a huge step from being a beginner, which means that if you want to keep up and be successful in your training, you must strictly attend the training school for Adventurers and Cygnus knights every day in Henesys. You also must be aware that you will be getting your first, actual skills in your job advancement, which means you have to know how to use them at appropriate times. This means frequently using them until you've mastered the specific skill. So are you ready?"

Aundrea nodded her head. Athena put the palm of her hand on hers before a bright light shone from their hands throughout the room. After the light died down, Aundrea felt as if she could take on thousands of monsters, in other words, she felt like new.

"With this, I've included a skill book and a bow, use it to practice your shooting techniques and skills, it will help a lot." Athena smiled, "Congratulations, Aundrea."

"Thank you." She replied.

Athena nodded her head, "Always report to me when you have any questions or troubles. Also attend the training school which is not too far from my training area. I'm sure your friend will can help you out with all that."

"Okay." Aundrea replied, "…I'll see you soon."

'…_If I see her soon. Let's just hope this is all a long dream…_'

Aundrea took her skill book, bow, and a small pack of arrows. She waved to Athena before heading downstairs. Aundrea opened the front door to meet Sera and her…ungrateful brother.

"…Holy shit." Aundrea whispered, she couldn't believe what she just saw.

It was windy, cloudy, freezing cold, and unusually dark, like it was about to rain. The weird part was the fact that it was hot and sunny just ten minutes ago.

"Aundrea!"

Sera's voice.

"Sera!" Aundrea shouted, before she spotted Sera and her brother.

"Aundrea! Watch out, behind you!" Sera screamed.

Aundrea swiftly turned around to see what was behind her; her mouth was wide agape in the shape of an O. Fear, disbelief, and slight curiosity all went through her at the same time.

It was the same hooded man that she encountered in her archery match. The question that disturbed her the most was how the man found her so easily.

"So, Amazon, you're finally an Archer?" The hooded figure said, his frightening voice questioning only Aundrea.

"Who are you…?"

"You don't know me? I'm the one and only **Valor**." The hooded man replied.

"Get away from him!" Sera shouted; flashes of lightening appeared in the sky.

Aundrea slowly backed away until she was right next to Sera and her brother.

"What are you so scared of? I'm only here to protect you, Amazon." Valor said in his venomous, malicious voice, "Join forces with me and we'll become powerful together, just the two of us. With you processing natural Mana-Vigor, we could form our own Utopia and become our own eternal monarchs."

When Valor said the M word, Sera and Shino looked at Aundrea, entirely astonished.

"Y-you have Mana-Vigor…?" Sera's jaw dropped.

"I-"

"Leave them alone!" Athena's voice interrupted Aundrea as she came out of her training house. The training instructor held her forest, green bow, aiming it towards Valor. She gave him a deathly glare.

"Athena Pierce, you do have a lot of competence." Valor said, with slight irritation, "You can't reduce my power like you did with the other nine job instructors, now it's my turn. This time I'm going to bring maple world to its rightful owner, me. And I'm not letting you and the instructors get in my way."

Athena saw Valor raise his bony, skeletal hands, ready start an incantation.

"Guys! Run! Get away from here!" Athena shouted, as more thunder and flashes of lightning invaded the dark sky.

A big flash of blue emerged from Valor's hands, summoning a stampede of monsters.

"Get them!" Valor shouted.

The monsters fled towards the three. There had to be at least two dozens of them, monsters ranging from miniscule snail-like creatures to large giant furry ones with two abnormally large arms. Sera and Aundrea were glued to the ground, petrified by the great number of monsters.

"Come on!" Shino shouted, grabbing onto Sera's hand as Aundrea grabbed onto Sera's.

Aundrea turned around and saw the monsters gaining on them before Athena raised her hands summoning three large scrolls. The job instructor activated the scrolls sending a bright beam of light making everything turn to a blinding white.

* * *

><p>WOWW! Long Chapter! :P I actually thought It would turn out to be shorter than this…but anyways I have a lot to say before I shut up :D. First of all this story is going to contain some stuff that you wouldn't usually find in Maplestory to "spice it up" a bit and because I haven't played the game in a while, I might get a few things wrong so please correct me if I do.<p>

And about the whole Mana-Vigor thing, I didn't know there was a skill like that already in maple. But once again, I haven't played Maplestory for a long while, so I don't really know much about the fourth job skills. Later on in the story though, as Aundrea's Mana-Vigor progresses, she's going to get new abilities in her special skill, making it different from any regular skill in Maple. In my story, Mana-Vigor is a skill acquired in the fourth job and ONLY the fourth job. But there's a special circumstance about having Mana-Vigor as a beginner. It's called having Natural Mana-Vigor because you're born with it and (Like I said in the story) It's at least ten times more powerful than the regular Mana-Vigor.

&& When I meant the 10 job instructors, I meant the Cygnus Knight instructors and the Adventurer instructors as a whole.

Now for the questions!~

How the HELL does Aundrea have Mana Vigor if she comes from Earth? **We shall find out about that MUCH later on in the story.**

What kind of skill is Regular Mana-Vigor? **It's when you focus all your energy into one big powerful shot. (Regular 4****th**** jobs)**

What kind of skill(s) are in **Natural** Mana Vigor? **Well, It's much more than focusing your energy into one big shot. Since Natural Mana Vigors have Mana Vigor since the they're born, it's much more powerful than the regular one. (Blahblahblah) But, as you go further into the story, Aundrea's Mana-Vigor becomes stronger and she's able to acquire powers that derive from focusing her energy that aren't in Regular Mana-Vigor.**

If Aundrea isn't the only one, how many Natural Mana-Vigors are in Maple World? **As for now, Aundrea. But there have been other Natural Mana-Vigors before they passed away. Very very very very few people are known to have NATURAL Mana-Vigor, that's why Valor wants Aundrea's power so bad.**

How in the world does Valor end up in Earth and how does he know she has Mana-Vigor**? We shall also find out about this later!**

Are you going to concentrate on the other main characters too, other than Aundrea? **Of course, having a story that's all about the main character tends to get boring. (At least in my case.)**

Why is Shino such a dick? **For the third time, you'll find out about this later! GOD, THIS IS ONLY THE BEGGINNING OF THE STORY! D**

And…If you have any other question, I'll be happy to answer them! C: Just comment and I'll pm you back! I HAVE NOW ENABLED ANONYMOUS REVIEWS (Sorry I didn't notice!)

Now it's time for me to shut up C: Thanks for reading! More comments means faster updates! :D

**Characters (**UPDATED**!)**

**Aundrea Flemming**

Age: 16

Height: 5,3.5 (About 163 Cm)

Characteristics: Very Stubborn, Competitive (Of course..), Loudmouthed, Short-tempered, Friendly at times, Tomboyish

**Sera Terraice (Younger sister of Shino Terraice)**

Age: 16

Height: 5,3 (160 Cm)

Characteristics: Optimistic, Friendly, Helpful, kindhearted, Stubborn (She can make a lot of bad decisions at times), Feminist(Also, at times), Naive

**Shino Terraice (Older brother of Sera Terraice)**

Age: 18

Height: 5,8 (176 Cm)

Characteristics: Quiet, Reserved, Supportive (Just wait for it!), Mournful, Nostalgic


	3. Amazon: Nautilus

"…_I'm George, it's nice to meet you…_"

"_I'm Sera…so we can actually stay at your place? We have nowhere else to go for now._"

"_Yes, of course. Valor must have done a great amount of damage…if you can't go back to your home, that is._"

"_Thanks a lot, George._"

"_You're welcome, but your friend, is she okay? She's hardly awake…_"

"_Aundrea…are you there_?"

"_Aundrea."_

"_Aundrea?_"

_Wake up…Amazon._

_**Xxx KODOCHIIR xx KODOCHIIR xx KODOCHIIR xxX**_

"Nnngh…"

Aundrea fluttered her eyes open several times before her vision lost blurriness. When she was wide awake, she jumped up at the unfamiliar sights. She sat on top of a wooden bunk bed which was adjacent to a small window. Through the window, the bright moonlight was visible. She was still stuck in the Maple World.

'_So much for being a dream…_'

"Aundrea! You're awake!" Sera smiled, "About time; we were getting worried."

Aundrea turned around and saw Sera sitting across from Shino beside a wooden table with plates of food in the middle; she smelled a familiar tint of tomatoes coming from the dishes. Shino shortly looked at Aundrea then went back to staring at his plate.

"What happened?" Aundrea incredulously asked, slowly getting off the bunk bed, "Where are we?"

"We're inside Nautilus. Athena must have used return scrolls to teleport us here, so we could be safe from Valor…." Sera replied, "…And someone let us bunk in here; you weren't awake at the time."

"W-what about Henesys…and-and your mom! Is she okay?" Aundrea exclaimed.

"How is she supposed to know?" Shino spoke up, dragging the fork across his plate of food, "We obviously weren't in the same place as her."

Aundrea's eyes widened both in disbelief and irritation, getting a puzzled look from Sera.

"What's your prob-?"

"Hey! Sera, Shino, Aundrea!" An unfamiliar voice interrupted Aundrea's sudden outburst.

A guy with messy blonde hair came through the entrance of the room, startling Aundrea. He wore slightly raggedy clothing that made him look very casual. The guy's entrance stole Aundrea's attention from Shino's unappreciative attitude.

"Welcome back, George!" Sera smiled, greeting the blonde haired boy.

"Uhh…how do you know my name?" Aundrea asked.

"Sera told me." George replied, "So you finally woke up?"

"I guess…" Aundrea replied, a bit of sleepiness harboring her.

"Oh Aundrea, meet George, he was the one that let us in." Sera said.

"Hey beautiful!" George grinned, causing Shino to slightly raise his eyebrow.

"Hi..." Aundrea said, taken aback by his…overfriendly greeting to her.

"I'll be back with some chicken stew for you." George said, "Pirate's specialty!"

He left the room, leaving the three of them alone.

"Nice guy, isn't he?" Sera jokingly said as she wagged her eyebrows up and down.

"A bit too nice." Aundrea said, causing Sera to laugh as well, then asked, "So…did…you know this guy at all?"

"No, we just met him a few hours ago. He found us alone outside of here and let us stay in his dorm; you were half asleep though. We don't have anywhere else to go except for here, cause Henesys is probably under Valor's control…"

Not wanting to go into details about what could've happened to her mom, Sera changed the subject, keeping her voice to a minimum. "So how did you get Mana-Vigor?"

"Honestly, I don't know how I got it." Aundrea replied, surprised at Sera's change of topic, but then thought about her fake amnesia to use as an excuse, "I don't remember."

"That's weird…" Sera said, resting her head on her palm, "I guess that's why Valor wants to use your natural Mana-Vigor cause it'll give him a big advantage for his 'Utopia'."

Aundrea nodded her head. She didn't want to face any of this; she really wanted this to be a bad dream so she could wake up and pretend like none of this ever happened. She definitely did not want to be used for powers by some kind of spirit, like a puppet; just the thought of it creeped her out.

"Back!" George said, entering the room once again; he set a plate of chicken drenched in a thick, tomato stew along with eating utensils.

Aundrea slid a wooden stool next to the table and sat down.

"I'm gonna be eating with you guys." George sighed, "Everyone on the ship is so busy today."

"Alright; the more, the merrier." Sera giggled.

As Aundrea sat down, she noticed she was sitting right across from Shino. All her attention was focused on Sera's brother now, thanks to his rude personality. Aundrea icily glared at Shino, trying to get him to take a hint. Shino noticed this and glared back, obviously looking quite frustrated.

'_Yeah, you better be mad, you irritating jerk!_'

Aundrea was quite surprised at how touchy she was today. She knew she was short-tempered for a girl, but nobody ever made her feel so angry before. She hardly even knew this guy but there was something in Shino that made her feel like she was about to explode into a million pieces. George noticed the tension between the two and spoke up; he also noticed how hard Aundrea was gripping her fork.

"Woah, is everything all right guys? You both seem pissed off." George lightly said, talking to Shino and Aundrea.

"Huh?" Aundrea replied, coming back to reality, "I'm fine, just a few certain things…like maybe a specific person today is pissing me off today."

Aundrea returned back to facing Shino. Because of her overconfidence and competitiveness getting the better of her, she gave him a 'haha' smirk. She willingly dug into her chicken stew, eating it rather quickly.

"Let me guess, that specific person is Valor." Sera said, getting the wrong idea.

"Oh, god…not him. Your place was trashed because of him." George replied, knowing that Sera and Shino came from Henesys, "I have a feeling we should all be evacuated out of Victoria Island before things get worse…And for the past few years, he's been really going on a rampage with his army and stuff."

"Evacuating is easier said than done." Sera replied, "There's too much people in Victoria Island; It'll take days just to get everyone out."

It was quiet for a while until Shino scraped his chair across the floor, respectfully pushing it under the table. He went towards the bunk beds.

"Where're you going?" Sera asked.

"To sleep." He quietly replied.

"Goodnight." Sera and George said at the same time. Shino, of course, didn't reply.

When Sera's brother was next to the bunk beds, he opened a window next to one of them, allowing the cool, night breeze to enter. As Shino was getting ready to sleep, Sera and George were cleaning up the dinner plates.

"So where're your parents?" Sera asked.

"They're out in Perion, doing tasks for Sitting Bull…I haven't seen them in a couple of months; so I'm kind of missing them." George replied.

"Oh…" Sera nodded her head, her usual content face turning into an upset one. Her mom came into mind, still wondering if Valor did any harm to her.

"Aundrea, you should get some sleep, you too Sera." George spoke up, "While you were out, Sera and I thought about going to Perion tomorrow. It's probably the safest place in Victoria cause of the mountains, so it'll be harder for Valor to find us there. And I could probably find my parents if we go there too."

"But what about Henesys? And your mom?" Aundrea asked; she was certainly not used to this type of travel with people she hardly knew, but being safe was definitely better than being sorry.

"It's way too dangerous right now, Valor's probably there causing more trouble." George replied.

Aundrea nodded her head, surprised at how fast this was all going.

"Night." Sera said with a hint of grief on her face; the fact that her mom may be in danger, terrified her.

"Good night Sera; good night George." Aundrea replied, purposely forgetting to say goodnight to Shino "…And thanks for letting us stay here."

"No problem!" George smiled, as Aundrea climbed onto another bunk bed. Sera went into the bottom part of Aundrea's bunk, quickly falling asleep.

The idea of Sera being apart from her Mom and George being apart from both his mom and dad made Aundrea think about being apart from her own family, on a higher scale. The more she thought about that, the more Aundrea longed to go back home. She missed her mom, her dad, heck, even her little brat sister.

She dismissed herself of the wistful thoughts and fell asleep.

**Xxx KODOCHIIR xx KODOCHIIR xx KODOCHIIR xxX**

"Hey! Wake up!"

Aundrea opened her eyes and saw Sera above her, slightly nudging her back. Aundrea stretched, yawned and stood up against her bunk. Mornings were just not her thing, especially since she was often grouchy during the time.

'_Great, more traveling today…_' Aundrea grumbled in her head, '_I haven't even been here for a week and I feel so tired_.'

Aundrea saw Sera cooking breakfast on a nearby stove along with George while Shino was sitting on the table, head resting on his forearms.

"Hey, George, you know where the bathrooms are?' Sera asked.

"Yeah, follow me." George replied, and then faced Shino and Aundrea, "We'll be back in a few. And by the way, the bacon and eggs have a couple more minutes till they're finished."

George and Sera left the room. That meant Shino and Aundrea were alone, much to both their dismays. The familiar smell of pan-fried bacon and eggs interrupted Aundrea's thoughts as her stomach growled. She got up from her bed and walked towards the source of the smell, the stove. She saw an iron skillet with sizzling bacon and opaque eggs in the center. Her stomach growled once again in hunger.

'_One slice couldn't hurt_.'

She took a nearby fork and picked a nearly crispy slice of bacon from the pan.

"Didn't you hear? It's not finished yet. That means it's not cooked."

Aundrea immediately spun back and saw Shino, sitting at the table across from the stove. The tone of Shino's voice sounded like he was trying to imply that Aundrea was stupid.

"It is cooked." Aundrea argued, continuing to take the slice out of the pan.

"Sure, if you want to catch disease." Shino said, with a hint of arrogance in his voice.

Frustrated, Aundrea put the slice of bacon back in the pan, than mumbled, loud enough for Shino to hear, "You're not my mother."

Shino frowned at Aundrea's slight immature tone of voice and left the room to take a tour of the place. After a couple of minutes, Aundrea noticed George come back in.

"You ready for the trip to Perion?" He asked, "I know it seems like all of a sudden, but I think it's best for us since it's safer."

"Not with Shino around." Aundrea replied, moving a slice of bacon back and forth in the skillet.

"You guys do look like you kind of dislike each other…" George replied, taking hint of Shino's and Aundrea's distant attitude, "Just take your mind off of him and focus on other things."

"It's hard to do that if he's one of the people I'm traveling with." Aundrea sighed.

"Well, there has to be something at least good about him." George grinned with slight optimism.

"I don't think so." Aundrea grinned back, poised in her tone of voice.

"If you say so." George said, removing the skillet from the stove. He took a nearby plate from a shelf and placed a slice of bacon and a sunny-side up egg on it, yolk partially uncooked, just the way Aundrea liked it. George handed Aundrea a slice of bread.

"Thanks." Aundrea replied, taking the food, then asked with curiosity, "So…what job are you?"

"I'm a pirate, since about a month ago, so I'm still new to this." George replied, "So you're an archer, right?"

"Yes, I got my job advancement right before Valor attacked Henesys." Aundrea replied.

George nodded his head, almost suspiciously. Aundrea noticed Sera and Shino walk into the room.

"Aundrea, you gotta get dressed." Sera smiled, "Big day is today."

Aundrea looked at her archery team outfit clothes she was wearing, puzzled. "I'm already dressed."

"Not with that outfit you aren't; that's not training gear." Sera replied, eyeing Aundrea's archery team outfit that she was still wearing. Sera noticed that Aundrea's archery team outfit was out of place but shrugged it off. However, Shino couldn't take his mind off of Aundrea's "awkward" outfit.

Aundrea also noticed that Sera, George, and Shino were all wearing respectable training outfits. The three carried heavy bags on the back of them along with their training weapons. Obviously, they were all ready for Perion except Aundrea.

"Aundrea take this."

"What?" Aundrea faced George, who held a rather large bag. Aundrea immediately took it, curious of what George was giving to her. Aundrea eagerly opened the bag. She took out a green tanktop, with short brown, leather sleeves along with a pair of green capris. A leather-like belt was wrapped around the tank-top, making it look more stylish.

"Are these for…me?" Aundrea asked, eyes still on the articles of clothing.

"Yeah, that's why I gave the bag to you." George smiled, with a teasing air to his voice, "You need actual bowman clothing. When I was showing Sera to the bathroom, I saw a merchant selling all types of training clothes so I decided to get you a couple. …since you were wearing…uh…"

George paused, puzzled at Aundrea's unfamiliar outfit, a simple sports jersey with shorts without any embellishment.

"…A beginner's outfit." Aundrea lied, "…and Thanks, I'll change into these."

Shino noticed Aundrea's apprehensive hesitance and raised his eyebrow. Walking past George, Aundrea went into a nearby closet and closed it, making sure nobody would peek.

"That was sweet." Sera grinned, when Aundrea was out of sight, and then asked, "So how exactly are we going to go to Perion?"

Sera's credulous nature got the better of her.

"Uhh, we're going to have to cross Ellinea first; it's the safest way to go, cause Sleepywood is too dangerous for us." George replied.

"Shouldn't we be looking for Rena first?" Shino finally spoke up, concerned about his Mom's safety. He, as well as Aundrea, wasn't too comfortable about traveling all the way to Perion, especially with someone he hardly knew.

"We can't remember?" Sera replied, slightly taken aback by how Shino used his Mom's first name, "We can't go back to Henesys. Chances are, guards already blocked it off because it was too dangerous anyways…It's better we're safe, away from Valor. Plus, you could've told me this earlier, not right before we're leaving."

"…We hardly know this guy, Sera. And Perion is all the way up north." Shino whispered, making sure George didn't hear, "We've never been there before."

"That's cause you're too afraid to trust anyone." Sera retorted, with slight anger.

Shino slightly frowned at Sera's intrusive statement.

George looked at the two and raised his eyebrow, puzzled at their private conversation.

"How do I look?"

Sera and George turned around and saw Aundrea, with her respectable training outfit put on. She held onto her old archery team outfit.

"You look great!" Sera complimented, as George nodded.

"Thanks." Aundrea replied, as George gave her back her bow, arrows, and new bag. She quickly placed her arrows in the back of her, using a strap. Aundrea then tied her bow to the back of her like she would back at her archery practices.

"Okay, then, I guess we're ready to leave." Sera said.

"I have to say goodbye to Kyrin first." George replied.

"Whose Kyrin?" Aundrea asked.

"Oh; she's the one and only pirate job instructor." George smiled, "She and my parents were really good friends; it wouldn't be nice to leave without saying bye to her."

The four of them left the bedroom and entered a corridor whose walls seemed to be made of wood. Doors leading to different rooms were at either of Aundrea's sides. To Aundrea's surprise it was awfully large and spacey. The lights above were very dim and dull making the hall seem dark. Only a few people made their waythrough the hall, making only a sparse crowd. The floor of the hall was awfully damp, occasionally with puddles of water occupying it. They went through a couple flights of stairs until they reached what seemed to be the first floor of the building. George spotted a door larger than the adjacent ones and softly knocked on it.

"Come in." Aundrea heard a woman's voice from the other side.

George quickly opened the door, making a rather rough entrance. "Yo! Kyrin! Thank goodness you're here."

The sun's rays touched the room in a rather blinding way compared to the halls and corridors because of the massive windows on the opposite side of Aundrea. In the center of a room there was a large steering wheel with a young woman, who seemed to look in her late twenties; she had to be the job instructor.

"George, have you gotten in trouble…again?" The pirate instructor sighed; she had long wispy ginger hair, going all the way down to her waist. She wore a large black, pirate styled hat with a large skeleton symbol sewed on it, "Cause you know that Bartol is keeping a close watch over you and your groupies. He's been like-."

"-a father figure to me since my parents left and I should respect that; yeah, I know." George interrupted, innocently grinning, "And I didn't get into trouble. I wanted to tell you about Valor's recent attack…"

Kyrin's smile faded.

"We were thinking that it would be safer to go to Perion for now because of Valor. Plus, I want to look for my parents."

"We?" Kyrin asked with added surprise at George's sudden statement.

"A couple of friends and I." George replied, motioning to Aundrea, Sera and Shino.

"Nice to meet you Kyrin." Aundrea greeted, shaking the job instructor's hand.

"Likewise." She smiled, shaking Aundrea's small, pale hand back.

"Sooner or later, Valor could attack here; all of you guys need to be evacuated soon, to a safer place." George spoke.

"You are right...Valor _could_ attack Nautilus, but that doesn't mean he's going to." Kyrin replied, with a stubborn air to her voice, "You guys don't have to leave; my crew and I are staying here."

"But it's not safe-"

"Trust me, it'll be fine." Kyrin interrupted, trying to calm George down, "Leaving the Nautilus is like taking a part of myself away, especially since I'm the pirate job instructor. This is my home and my life as the captain of Nautilus." Kyrin replied.

George closed his eyes and sighed in defeat, earning a rather long silence between the two.

"…somehow I knew this day was going to come, especially with your kind of nature; adventurous and curious. But not this soon; I know you've been independent from your parents for a while and you're capable of taking care of yourself, but you just got your first job not too long ago." Kyrin replied, "…but I also can't stop you from leaving."

"I know." George sighed.

When Kyrin saw George's upset expression, something immediately came up to her mind. "Oh! I almost forgot! George, I have something for you."

"What is it?" George asked, out of curiosity.

"Hold on; one second." Kyrin said as she dug through a rather large treasure chest that was nearby, "Your parents must have left this for you since their long departure from Nautilus and they said for you to have it during an emergency…"

Kyrin took out a small box from the chest and held it up for George and the others to see, "…and I think now is the right time."

George stared at the box, eyeing it from side to side.

"Well, open it." The pirate instructor smiled.

George nodded and took the box. He removed the aluminum wrapping that surrounded the box and slowly opened it, revealing a claw-like-weapon. It was shaped and colored red like a maple leaf, with three sharp, polished blades sticking out from it.

"Is this the Maple Knuckle?" George gasped, eyeing the weapon in complete astonishment.

"Yes." Kyrin replied, "Impressive, isn't it?"

"It's amazing." George said, while holding it up, "H-how did they afford this…? It must have cost millions."

"Let's just say your parents know how to save well on mesos." Kyrin chuckled.

"Thank you so much." George grinned, "I-I don't know what else to say. Once I find my parents, I definitely have to thank them."

"Well you have to leave, don't you? Your friends are waiting." Kyrin replied, gesturing at Aundrea, Sera, and Shino.

"Oh, yeah." George chuckled, then said, "Well then…Farewell Captain, thanks for everything. Once Valor's attacks die down, I'll come back in one piece, promise."

George walked back to the others as Sera and Aundrea waved to Kyrin.

"Bye, everyone! Have a great journey." Kyrin said, "…And George, you better come in one piece. Remember, you're only in your first job, so don't get into any danger, okay?"

"Don't worry; I'll try not to." George smiled, "I'll be back soon."

After Kyrin waved to the four, George respectfully closed the job instructor's entrance door.

* * *

><p>…<strong>And that concludes the third chapter! I was originally going to make a huge, mega chapter out of this one, but I now I want to divide this part up into two smaller chapters, so the second part will be chapter 4, okay so enough of that.<strong>

**The whole wake up amazon dialogue at the beginning was in Aundrea's head, btw. :D**

**So, how was this chapter? Did it go too fast?**

**And I want to thank some of the reviewers for giving me really helpful advice for my story, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! :D**

**Please! Please! Please! R&R! I don't care if you're anonymous or w/e, but I need opinions on this! & As usual, feel free to ask me questions!**

**So…anyways 4****th**** chapter will be coming soon...of course.**

**NOW FOR THE CHARACTERS! The characteristics in bold are updated ones!**

**Aundrea Flemming**

Age: 16

Height: 5,3.5 (About 163 Cm)

Characteristics: Very Stubborn, Competitive (Of course..), Loudmouthed, Short-tempered, Friendly at times, Tomboyish, **Arrogant at times**

**Sera Terraice (Younger sister of Shino Terraice)**

Age: 16

Height: 5,3 (160 Cm)

Characteristics: Optimistic, Friendly, Helpful, kindhearted, Stubborn (She can make a lot of bad decisions at times), Feministic

**Shino Terraice (Older brother of Sera Terraice)**

Age: 18

Height: 5,8 (176 Cm)

Characteristics: Quiet, Reserved, Supportive (Just wait for it!), Mournful, Nostalgic, **not much is known about him**

**George (Last Name Unknown/ N/A)**

Age: 17

Height: 5,7 (174 Cm)

Characteristics: Friendly, The "Ladies" Man (Flirtatious at times), curious, outgoing, wistful, troublemaker, unreasonable at times, has good leadership which can come off as bossy


	4. Amazon: Leaving Nautilus

**HELLO PEEPS! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while (More than 1 month!) I've been really busy with school in general. But now I'm back, this time to make shorter chapters (At least 1000 words each) for my story and more frequent updates, so it'll be easier for everyone to keep up. And btw, I'm not going to put the character profiles on every single chapter update, maybe once in a while, but not every single little chapter. :P**

**Okay, so this is where you start to get to know the characters more :DDD So please R&R, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! :D**

**&& Oh! Who's your favorite character so far? & Which character should I focus more on? (Making my character's is the most fun part! :D)**

After saying their goodbyes to Kyrin, Aundrea, George, Sera, and Shino went back down to the second floor of the large, wooden-bound ship walking past several people that looked to be busy and about. Aundrea was anxious but curious about how the outside of this unfamiliar place would look like, having spent her whole time inside a ship in this "town".

"Okay here it is…"

George motioned towards a large entrance with tall, wooden doors which were wide open. The morning sun's rays went through the open doors, illuminating the whole second floor of the ship. George politely let the other three go through the entrance first.

When Aundrea finally reached outside she wowed at the magnificent atmosphere. The outside looked as if it were a tropical oasis with palm trees and occasional wooden shacks occupying the area. In the distance, in front of the four of them, there was a great mass of water with docks that had people carrying buckets of fishing supplies. A slightly cool, but warm breeze brushed towards the four, harboring a slight scent of sea water.

"It's great isn't it?" George said, with slight smug and confidence.

"Yeah." Aundrea replied, admiring the tranquil surroundings.

The newly archer turned around to look at the "ship" from the outside view. She realized it was shaped like some sort of whale…or dolphin with an obvious skull symbol carved on top of it. Aundrea slightly raised her eyebrow at the odd construction of the ship before Sera spoke up.

"Which way do we go?" Sera asked.

George took out a sheet of partially torn paper from his side pocket; he glued his eyes onto it.

"We go northwest until we reach Henesys forest, reaching the six path cross way, then we turn east which leads us straight to Ellinea." George replied, "We should rest by then…it's kind of a long walk."

The four walked without saying a word to each other, making an awkward silence. Sera and Aundrea weren't surprised at all; the four hardly knew each other, except for Sera and Shino who were siblings. In general, traveling with people they barely knew was way awkward. They continued to walk as the clear atmosphere, the ocean, and palm trees were replaced with evergreens and oak trees. They finally entered Henesys forest. To Aundrea's surprise, it didn't seem like such a long walk.

"Aiee!" Sera shrieked.

Aundrea, George, and Shino turned their attention to Sera who was behind them. Sera had her position held back at the sight of a small, blue snail creature in front of her. Obvious fear and shock was in Sera's face with a slight whimper forming on her lips.

Shino had his arms crossed, dumfounded at Sera's feeble attitude towards the small, harmless snail. George slightly laughed at Sera's sudden high-pitched shriek.

"T-that's not funny!" Sera cried, biting her lip, running behind Shino.

Aundrea sighed at Sera's characteristic shriek and took out her bow, aiming it towards the helpless snail, "It's just a snail; it won't kill you."

"That's what you think." Sera replied, still shocked by the snail's sudden appearance.

"…Plus it's good practice for my archery." Aundrea grinned, taking an arrow from the quiver behind her bag, she aimed once again, pulled the bow's string back, and quickly let go of the arrow. In an instance the poor snail fell to its doom.

"You're so cruel Aundrea." George teased.

"I know." Aundrea grinned. She began walking, getting a head-start in front of them.

The four of them did more tedious walking towards the Six Path Crossway. Soon enough the morning sky became orange with the sunset slightly masked behind the thick forest.

"How far is Ellinea from Nautilus?" Aundrea whined, dropping down onto the forest grass, knees first, with exhaustion, "I'm so tired!"

"Must you complain about everything…?" Shino whispered, loud enough for Aundrea to hear.

Aundrea shot him an icy glare before returning her attention back to George.

"Pretty far, but we're nearly halfway there." George replied, "Hey guys help me set up the tent."

"A tent?" Sera questioned, looking quite uncomfortable by the grassy and enclosed forest surroundings, "We're staying here?"

"Yeah, it's getting pretty dark." George replied, "We need some rest, according to some people here."

The blonde-haired pirate nudged his head towards Aundrea's direction.

"Haha." Aundrea said in a dull, monotone voice.

Sera took George's bag from behind him and took a long piece of cloth from the bag. George grabbed four tree branches that were long enough to hold the tent before Aundrea pressed them into the ground. Aundrea noticed Shino not doing anything to contribute. Because of her smug and arrogance, she thought this was the perfect time to get back at him.

"Aren't you going to help, Shino?" Aundrea said, saying his name with slight irritation, "We sort of need a fourth person for this."

Shino noticed Aundrea's motive behind her self-assured poise to her question; he replied with slight maturity and calm to his tone to irritate Aundrea, "I'm sure you'll be fine with two people helping you build a simple tent. It's seriously not that hard, unless you're really slow. "

Sera and George awkwardly and also timidly looked back and forth at Aundrea and Shino, wondering what was going to happen next. Sera's face was slightly clueless at to what was going on while George noticed the familiar tension between them.

Aundrea clenched her fists in anger and gritted her teeth, especially at his last sentence.

"You-! We're not the only ones that are going to work!" Aundrea shouted, getting bewildered stares from George and Sera. She didn't care how crazy she sounded, but Shino really knew how to get under her skin.

"Guys-"

"…and what are you going to do about it, Miss All High and Mighty?" Shino frowned, interrupted George.

"You stupid little bas-"

"Guys!" Sera shouted, interrupting Aundrea, "Please stop fighting!"

"He started it…" Aundrea mumbled, in a child-like tone, forgetting to even acknowledge that she was the one who initiated talking to Shino.

"So mature." Shino replied; Aundrea ignored his sarcastic comment.

Sera pleadingly looked at her brother, desperately not wanting him to start another fight. Shino sighed, giving in to his younger sister's upset pout.

Aundrea, George, and Sera continued to finish the tent, causing more awkward silence between them. After the tent was somehow made into a sloppy but a habitable place to stay in, George pulled out a bag with yellow chunks of…meat.


	5. Amazon: Disputes

_Aundrea, George, and Sera continued to finish the tent, causing more awkward silence between them. After the tent was somehow made into a sloppy but a habitable place to stay in, George pulled out a bag with yellow chunks of…meat._

"What's that?" Aundrea asked, as she slightly grimaced at the bag of slimy, uncooked meat.

"Evil Eye, it's really sweet tasting." George grinned.

Aundrea immediately recognized the same name of the monsters that attacked her in Sleepywood.

"Eww!" The archer shouted, she covered her mouth with her palm, clearly disgusted, "Do we really have to eat that?"

"You want steak of Tauromacis? I bought some back at Nautilus." George said, holding another bag, this time of darker meat.

"Uhh…maybe I'll just try both; it can't be all that bad, I guess." Aundrea sighed.

Sera and Georgia chuckled a bit at Aundrea's sudden change in mind.

"Sera and I are going to get the firewood by hunting some tree stumps." George said.

"Can I come?" Aundrea said, in outburst. She definitely did not want to be left alone with Shino, of all people. She turned around and stole a short glance at Shino, he leaned against the tent, staring into space, probably mulling over something.

"All right, how about I stay and you and Sera go." George said, familiarizing himself with Shino and Aundrea's mutual dislike for each other, "You guys know where the stumps are?"

"Yeah." Sera replied.

Aundrea nodded her head before following Sera deeper into the forest. Things were awfully quiet between the two girls. Sera was still taken aback by Aundrea's sudden outburst toward Shino.

"Aundrea."

The archer turned her head around to face Sera who spoke up.

"I'm sorry about my brother…" The rouge said, nervously twirling her long black hair between her fingers. She couldn't stand the awkward silence between them; she had to say something.

"He hates me." Aundrea slouched her shoulders, "I never did anything bad to him, why does he hate me so much?"

Sera sighed. She bit her lip; she had in mind of what to say, but she had to word it in such a way that wouldn't hurt Aundrea's feelings too badly.

"…Well...I think it's because of Valor…" Sera replied, her voice clearly evident of how nervous she sounded, "Valor is after us because of you…and we had to leave home because of that…Shino didn't want to leave all of that behind. Plus, he's not so good with new people, he doesn't prefer to socialize much."

The archer widened her eyes; it all made sense to her now.

"I-I'm sorry."

"No, you shouldn't be. Shino is just being a big jerk; that's all." Sera smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's not it, It's my fault that Henesys got attacked...that you guys had to run away from home."

"Valor obviously did that, not you." Sera said, affectionately putting her hand on Aundrea's shoulder.

"But-"

"No buts! Now let's go hunt those stumps!" The rogue said, her cheerful mood coming back on.

Aundrea smiled, as well; Sera's optimism could be so contagious sometimes.

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

"Shino, you should help me with dinner!" George said.

"Why not." He replied, in a blank tone. He stood up and walked over to George who was in the process of unwrapping the uncooked evil eye meat. Shino grabbed the Tauromacis steak and unwrapped that as well.

"This is gonna be like a cookout; we used to do these types of dinners like every week back home." George smiled. He stuck the evil eye meat, one by one, on wooden skewers.

Shino didn't reply, instead he continued to unwrap his share of meat. Both the guys didn't talk for a while.

"So…Shino, what do you think of Aundrea-" George covered his mouth, right after he realized what he said. _Way to make things even more awkward._

"Why are you asking me that?" Shino furrowed his eyebrows, "Very stupid question, isn't it?"

"Never mind; pretend I said nothing." George nervously chuckled. He continued to think over his embarrassing attempt for conversation, until he saw Sera and Aundrea make their way towards them. The two girls carried armfuls of firewood; they both shared laughs, clearly amused.

Shino gave Aundrea a quick glare, as he stuck the Tauromacis meat onto the skewers.

"What's so funny, you guys?"

"You shoulda seen Aundrea's face once she realized that the stumps here could actually move. It was priceless." Sera laughed. George laughed as well.

"What? That's pretty bizarre!" Aundrea retorted.

"Well then, I should go set up the sleeping bags." The pirate spoke up, going inside the tent.

"Let me help, George!" Sera said, following suit.

Aundrea was left alone with Shino; it was then she remembered what Sera told her about him. The orange haired girl absently rubbed her arm as she saw Shino who was busy stacking the firewood. Much to Shino's dismay, the stacked logs scattered everywhere. Shino clicked his tongue in frustration.

"T-That's not how you do it." Aundrea spoke up.

Shino turned around, facing the girl. He shook his bangs out of his eyes.

"Then how do you do it?" He frowned.

Aundrea crouched down next to Shino and picked up all of the firewood. Since she had a lot of experience camping back at Earth; she could do this easy. Shino watched Aundrea closely as she neatly stacked the firewood; it didn't scatter in a mess. She took Shino's matchbox from him and easily lit the fire.

"Not bad." Shino said taking his matchbox back from Aundrea.

_Of course I didn't get a thank you from him…_

"You're welcome." Aundrea bluntly said before going inside the tent to inform Sera and George that the camp fire was ready. The four sleeping bags were neatly arranged inside the small tent compartment. Even though the space was limited, it would do. Sera and George were actively conversing with each other as they did the final adjustments for the sleeping bags.

"Fire's ready, guys."

"All right. We'll be out!" Sera said.

In a matter of minutes the two came out of the tent. George took a skewer of meat and stuck it inside the campfire, as Sera did the same, followed by Shino and Aundrea.

"Does this stuff actually taste good?" Aundrea asked as she stared at the meat on her kabob stick.

"You try it and tell me." George replied.

After the meat was fully cooked, Aundrea took a small bite out of the evil eye meat, first which turned into a charred yellowish color. It had quite the steak taste with a bit of sweetness added to it.

"It tastes weird."

"That's just the evil eye part; you should try the Tauromacis steak." George said.

Aundrea tipped her skewer a bit to get a better reach of the darker slab of meat placed on the stick. As soon as she took a bigger bite; she coughed the meat up.

"Oh god!" The archer cried, making a gagging noise.

George got into a fit of chuckles.

"I think I burnt the meat."

"Nahh, I think it's supposed to taste like that." Sera replied.

"She's right." George agreed.

After the long dinner, Sera and George walked back into the tent. Sera peeked her head out.

"You guys should get some sleep because we're waking up early tomorrow." She said, before going back into the tent.

Aundrea and Shino were alone; once again. It was surprisingly silent for only a few seconds. This time, Aundrea wanted to make things work between him and her. If they were going to travel together for a long time, she had to start now.

"Hey, Shino."

He faced Aundrea.

"I spoke to your sister earlier."

"Of course you did, weren't you with her the entire time?"

"Yeah…" Aundrea said, feeling dumfounded, "Anyways…I just wanted to apologize."

"For what, exactly?" He frowned.

"For this. Causing you guys to leave your home. It may not be directly my fault, but I'm the one Valor is after, and that caused you and Sera to have to leave your home…"

"_What a great way to buy pity_."

Aundrea frowned, completely taken aback by Shino's condescending and sarcastic tone of voice.

"I was trying to apologize."

"And that's exactly why I said that. Some rinky dink apology won't fix all of this."

"All I wanted is to get on equal grounds with you. We might be traveling together for a while, so it's just going to make things harder if we have stupid fights all of the time!" Aundrea's temper was getting the better of her.

"Then why don't you travel somewhere else by yourself? You're such a huge burden and danger to us. Everywhere you go; Valor goes. Things would be much more convenient if we didn't have to run from place to place just because we have to carry you around."

Aundrea scoffed, "Like I'm going to do anything you say! Sera was right, you are a jerk!"

"It's as if you were expecting me to accept this pathetic apology of yours." Shino rolled his eyes, "Grow up."

"Maybe I was, but it doesn't matter anymore; you're just incredibly impossible to deal with-!"

"Guys!" George whispered, his head was peeking out of the tent, "Stop fighting and come sleep, you'll wake up Sera!"

Aundrea sighed in relief once she realized Sera didn't hear them fighting. After what she talked with her about earlier; this was the last thing she wanted Sera to hear. Aundrea gave Shino an icy glare as he made his way into the tent. She angrily kicked the ground, once there was no sign of George; Aundrea let out an aggravated groan before going into the tent.

_How could Shino be such a stupid, arrogant, son of a bitch?! I hate that guy so much! How is such a nice girl like Sera even related to him?_

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

**Wow, it's been way more than a year since I uploaded this story! I thought I was going to quit this, but I decided to continue on! This felt more like a filler chapter than anything…maybe it was to get to know the characters a bit more. Anyways, please R&R, tell me what you think of this! :D**

**Next chapter the four will reach Ellinea!**


	6. Amazon: Ellinea

Aundrea squint her eyes open, trying not to let the morning sunshine glare directly at her brown eyes. She stretched and yawned before leaving her sleeping bag and the tent. She saw Sera sitting across from Shino; the two siblings were eating what looked to be the leftover meat from yesterday. George seemed to be packing what seemed to be the supplies they unpacked yesterday.

"Just a couple miles till we're at Ellinea." George spoke up.

"All right! All this walking was starting to wear off on me." Sera grinned.

Aundrea rubbed her eyes and glanced at Shino for a few seconds before averting her gaze. She still couldn't forget that horrid argument she had with Shino last night. Traveling was going to be twice…no three times as awkward now. The archer felt guilty at the fact that she apologized to Sera about her crude behavior towards Shino, but instead, she continued to fight with him.

"Aundrea go get some food. We'll be leaving right after." George said.

"Here." Sera gave Aundrea a skewer of evil eye and Tauromacis meat.

"Thanks." She took hold of the skewer; guilt was harboring her voice.

After eating the quick "breakfast", George packed the tent into his bag before hoisting it over his shoulders. The blonde-haired pirate took out his maple claw and secured it on his fist.

"There's a lot of monsters on the way." George said, "So we should take our weapons out."

Aundrea grabbed her bow that was tied behind her bag as Sera and Shino did the same. George was right; as the four continued to their destination, a pig-like monster was in front of them. It dragged one of its hooves against the grass, ready to run towards them. When Aundrea was about to aim for the pig, Shino easily killed the monster in one swipe with his dagger. Aundrea pursed her lips in anger; but regained her composure; she was going to try not to get into any petty fights with Shino today.

"Nice one." George grinned at Shino; appreciating his agility.

Shino nodded his head as a curt 'thanks'. He was back to his quiet self.

Nearly an hour passed and the regular oak and maple forest trees of Henesys forest were slowly turning into tall, saturated, and bright green trees. The trees didn't look real at all; it was like they had some sort of unfamiliar magical atmosphere to them.

"Are we near Ellinea?" Aundrea spoke up, noticing the different environment.

"We must be at the entrance-" Sera replied, excitedly scrutinizing the area, before she immediately stopped in her tracks, "Hiee!"

Shino raised his eyebrow at Sera's sudden squeak, "What's wrong?"

Sera feebly pointed at something. A smaller…or a rather tiny creature hovered herself around Shino's sister. The creature wore a translucent purple dress that shimmered against the light. What was noticeable about her appearance were her large butterfly-like wings. Her glittery hair matched the color of her dress. This creature obviously looked to be a fairy.

"Hi adventurers and Cygnus knights, my name is Nana, the love fairy! Welcome to Ellinea!" The fairy greeted them with much gusto, before speaking to Sera, "And sorry for the scare; we fairies don't mean any harm!"

"Oh no, It's okay." Sera replied, slightly giggling a bit; she felt quite silly for freaking out over a small fairy.

"Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy your stay at Ellinea." Nana said, then pointed further into the entrance, "It's right this way; through the green trees."

"Thanks." George waved his hand in acknowledgement.

After they left the fairy, they pushed their way through the trees. Soon enough the forest became full on saturated green trees; they eventually made it into the town of Ellinea. The plants were incredibly huge, stretching above 100 feet. The trees were so condensed and close together that they nearly blocked the sky, making shades of green light shine through. Small houses, shops, and other buildings were attached to the trees with strong vines securing them. Several platforms of land floated up as people could get to building that were placed on higher parts of the trees.

It was magic brought to life.

"This place is so pretty!" Aundrea exclaimed, her eyes glued onto the pristine atmosphere.

"Yup, it's all kept in balance by magic." George replied, "By Grendel; he's the leader and job instructor of this place. He lives in that big house at the way top."

Aundrea looked up and saw quite a large building that was at the extreme top of the town.

"This is the first time I've set foot on Ellinea!" Sera squealed, "This place is so wonderful up close than it is in books!"

"Of course it is, books can only tell so much." Aundrea replied; she was never a big fan in reading so she was quite biased to say that.

The four looked around some more; examining all of the citizens that walked about Ellinea. The place was pretty crowded, considering Valor's recent attack from Henesys. Instead of a loud ruckus, the people were calmly talking, adding to the serene environment which surprised Aundrea. People weren't panicking too much. The archer spotted more fairies, flying about, along with regular civilians. Most of the civilians looked to have job advancements, wearing their respective armor.

"We need to rest somewhere; we've done too much walking." George spoke up.

"We're just slowing down our trip to period." Shino replied.

Aundrea flashed him a glare, "Yeah, but some people are tired."

"Yeah, my whole body aches." Sera sighed, agreeing with Andrea; she rubbed the back of her shoulders.

Shino returned the glare to Aundrea.

"Let's go into the café or whatever it's called." George said, pointing to a medium sized building across from them. It was attached to a tree, just like the many buildings in Ellinea. Once the four went inside, they were greeted by another fairy, who this time, had sparkly green hair.

"Welcome…sit, sit." The fairy gave them all a warm smile before gesturing the four to a table. A guy was with a long wizard-like hat was already sitting down in one of the seats at that table. The hat partially hid his face.

"There's no more empty tables so you'll have to share for now." The fairy said. The place was fairly crowded, creating a loud environment. People were actively conversing with each other as some read through newspapers provided by the café itself. The café looked old fashioned, the inside was completely made out of wood. Aundrea inhaled the scent of food which caused her stomach to grumble.

"Just come up to the front table when you've decided your orders." The fairy said before she flew back to the front door to greet more guests.

Aundrea eagerly peered through the menu books the café provided. She slightly grimaced at one of the dishes she saw written; green slime pudding.

"We already ate breakfast, right?" Shino said, "No point coming here."

Aundrea quickly looked up from her menu book and pursed her lips at him before placing the book in front of her face again.

"We're just resting, no big deal. I'm sort of tired, too much walking." Sera sighed.

"So are you guys traveling to Perion?"

The four stared right at the wizard guy who spoke. He made eye contact with them, revealing his face. He had light brownish hair with an orange tint to it; he wore square glasses that slightly hid his eyes. The wizard guy looked around George's age.

"I heard people are going there to stay safe. Although, I believe Ellinea is safer; magic helps a lot."

"I guess, but Perion seems harder to get to. Plus I plan to find my parents who are doing tasks up there in the Excavation site." George replied.

"Interesting." The wizard guy said, "My name is Jeffery, by the way. But you can call me Jeff."

He held his hand out to George before George eagerly shook it, "Nice to meet you. I'm George and this is Aundrea, Sera, and Shino."

The pirate pointed to their names as he introduced them.

"So you're an Evan, right?" Sera asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Jeff replied.

Sera giggled; a little blue dragon popped out from beneath the table. She gently held onto it and gave it a few calm pats, "He's so cute."

"His name is Mir." Jeff grinned, "He's currently learning the basics of flying, it's going to be a few weeks before he can completely get the hang of it."

"Amazing." Sera gasped, "I haven't seen an Evan in person before."

Mir tried flying out of Sera's but the dragon tripped and fell, knocking out the spice shakers on the table the five were sitting in. Aundrea dusted fallen black pepper off of her pants as Shino gave Jeff a disapproving look.

"Sorry." Jeff chuckled, picking Mir back up.

"So where are you going? Do you plan to stay in Ellinea?" George asked.

"I'm actually going to Perion. I'm going to hang in there, because I have a feeling that Ellinea won't be safe for long. I feel like Valor will find some way around Grendel's magic barrier."

"Oh! Than you can come with us!" Sera exclaimed, her friendly nature getting the better of her, "That is, if you're traveling alone."

"Sure I'll come with you guys." Jeff replied.

"Great!" Sera clasped her hands together; the more people, the merrier.

Even though Aundrea was far…far from home; she felt like she could partially call these people family. However long their journey was going to take; Aundrea felt like she could stick with these people at all costs…except for Shino, of course.

_However, this question will never ever leave my mind: _

_Is this all a big dream, or was I really transported into the Maple World?_

"Hey, Aundrea. We're leaving." George said, waving a hand over her face.

"Oh, already?" Aundrea blinked her eyes; averting herself from daydreaming.

"Yeah…" George replied, "Are you still tired?"

"No, I'm fine." She replied before standing up and pushing her chair in.

"Okay, let's go."

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

**I feel like this is getting off to a slow start; next chapter is when the story will pick up, I promise you that. That's when they finally make it to Perion. :D**

**R&R Please!**

**Aundrea – 16 - Archer  
>Sera – 16 - Rouge<br>Shino – 18 - Nightwalker  
>George – 17 - Pirate<br>Jeff – 17 - Evan**


	7. Amazon: Perion's Rise

The five continued to go northwest up into the forests of Ellinea. They easily fought green, gelatinous globs of monsters called slimes as well as stumps as they continued on their way.

Sera let out a giggle as she saw Mir trying to fly some more. The dragon fluttered his small wings, but plopped back onto the ground.

"Your dragon is so cute." Sera was clearly amused by Mir's repeat efforts to fly.

Jeff let out a laugh as well before picking up Mir; he cupped the small dragon in his arms.

"Does your dragon use actual magic to fight?" Aundrea spoke up, curiosity growing in the Evan's pet.

"Of course." Jeff replied, "Mir, lets show Aundrea here our skills."

Jeff took his oak staff that was strapped against his back and twirled it with one arm. The Evan's dragon flew immediately flew by his side. As Jeff eyed a slime he struck his staff forward, Mir opened his mouth and emitted a large ball of fire, quickly melting the slime to a puddle of green goop.

"Woah! That was so neat!" Aundrea gasped, clapping her hands together.

"Thank you, thank you." Jeff respectfully bowed, "Though soon enough Mir will know how to attack without my help."

As the sun was starting to set, the green trees started to clear out. The green leaves and grass on the ground were turning into a rocky and rough terrain. Large tan mountains could be seen throughout the clearing. The mountains seemed to stretch up for miles, higher than the platforms back at Ellinea, which made Perion a quite efficient place to hide or be protected from danger.

"We're finally here." Sera spoke up, she walked ahead of the four, leading them towards the village of Perion.

Perion was not as crowded as Ellinea was, but there was still a fair amount of people. Instead of glittering fairies and burly pirates, most of the civilians were dressed in Native American-like attire. Cone shaped tee-pees were scattered throughout the mountainous village. Aundrea inhaled a musky scent of smoke, which was a mix of firewood and charcoal. Campfires were all over the place.

What caught their attention was a large group of people at one larger campfire, singing and dancing. Refreshments and foods were all around the campfire as civilians could easily have access to them.

"Is that some sort of party?" Sera pointed to the crowd of people.

"Hmm, I guess, let's check it out." George said.

"Yeah, let's go to a party with a bunch of strangers we don't even know." Shino sarcastically said.

"But there's food." Sera nudged her brother's sleeve, "I'm hungry."

With that said, they continued on their way towards the party of some sort. Shino was trailing behind them.

"Why would people party at a time like this?" Jeff loudly said over the noise, the singing and drums were getting loud as the five got closer. He was quite questioned at why people would eagerly party during the worrisome time of Valor.

_BANG!_

Everyone's dancing and singing was ceased to a halt. The loud chatter became silent. The noise came from a person who hit one of the bigger drums with his hand, trying to get everyone's attention.

"Welcome, everyone! To our weekly sunset gathering! I'm so glad a lot of people could make it this time!" The person said; he stood on top of a podium-like table so everyone could get a better view of him. He looked similar to the other civilians in Native American attire. He had tanned skin with black hair tied back.

"Is that Sitting Bull…?" George asked, squinting his eyes.

"Yeah, that has to be him." Jeff replied, "At least that's what books I've read depict him to look like."

"We thank the Sun gods, the past rulers of Perion, for protecting us from Valor and his increasing army and keeping us safe here. Each day is a miracle as of now. Valor has attacked Henesys just recently, it was a devastating shock to us… However, Valor's power is weak now so that might even help us more…even if we can't find his whereabouts, we can continue to stay safe as long as his power is weak…."

"**People call him Dances with Barlogs cause he slayed 56 Junior Barlogs and 10 Barlogs all by himself.**"**Jeff said, "He's pretty incredible."

"How do you know all of that?" Sera asked.

"I'm an Evan; I read a lot." Jeff replied.

"Everybody close your eyes and take a moment to thank the Sun gods."

Their attention was reverted back to Sitting Bull as everyone else respectfully bowed their heads. After that solemn but peaceful moment, Sitting Bull motioned for everyone to continue their dancing and music. Instead of wasting time to grieve over Valor's attack, Perion takes each day they have to celebrate their safety and well-being. Aundrea understood it all. It was better to have a positive outlook on things, than it was to have a negative one.

"Hey guys, I'm going to ask Sitting Bull about my parents." George spoke up, "I'll be back."

He saw Sitting Bull go inside one of the larger teepee shelters; George followed. Sitting Bull sat, back facing George, sifting through papers. George slightly tapped his palm on one of the dressers at the side to get the Job Instructor's attention.

"George, is that you?" Sitting bull turned around, recognizing the dirty blonde haired pirate.

"Yeah, it's been awhile, right?" George sighed, slight grief harboring his voice.

"Of course it has." Sitting Bull replied.

"Listen, have you seen my mom and dad?" George asked.

"…Unfortunately no. They're still doing quests in the Excavation site." Sitting Bull replied, "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." George replied, trying his best to mask his upset expression.

"Say, are you traveling alone?" Sitting Bull asked.

"No, I'm with some friends, we came here because it's probably safer."

"Your parents will be okay, Valor wouldn't attack the Excavation site if he ever came here; he'd be going for the main village." The job instructor replied, "Now let's find you and your friends somewhere to sleep; you all must be tired."

"Okay." George replied, feeling a smidge better, "Thank you."

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

"You have such promising power, but it's so unfortunate that I have to take it away…"

"Daddy…" A little boy whispered.

He was scared…too scared to move…too scared to do anything. He hid behind the staircase, his feet glued to the floor. As much as he wanted to save his father...he couldn't bring himself to do it. A cloaked figure was restraining a man, who looked to be the boy's father. Two men were behind the cloaked figure, completely sealed in black armor, the only thing that showed were their glowing, crimson eyes.

"…You can't." The boy's father grunted, his weakened condition preventing him from speaking clearly. His arms were restrained to the wall.

"Crimson! Arise!" The cloaked figure shouted.

Bright red lights illuminated the room as a large brown creature appeared in front of the cloaked man. The creature had a nasty snarl on his face; its eyes, as well, were glowing red. The creature wore protective armor with a thick, metal shoulder guard. It growled loudly causing the boy to tremble. That monster was the all feared Crimson Balrog.

"Kill him. That's the fastest way to capture his soul." The cloaked figure ordered the Balrog.

"No!" The boy shouted. His fear had left him…he was no longer afraid, not when his father was about to die. He ran down the stairs, "Daddy!"

"Don't come near!" His father shouted.

"But-!" Tears stained the boy's cheeks.

"Restrain him." The cloaked figure said to the two men who were covered in black armor.

The boy let out a yelp as the men tightly gripped onto his arms, prohibiting him from moving any further. The balrog snarled and stuck his sharp claws deep through the father's shoulders. The boy's father let out a blood curdling yell as the boy cried loudly for his dad.

"Stop it! Please!" The boy cried, his father was getting killed…in front of him, "Please!"

The cloaked man ignored the boys cries as the balrog continued to repeatedly scratch his father with its claws. Puddles of blood were quickly dropping to the ground. The boy's eyes widened. The balrog clawed his father's neck so aggressively that his head was bent to an unnatural angle.

The boy let out a subdued breath, no matter how badly he wanted to close his eyes and look away from this horrific sight…he couldn't. This image would haunt him forever.

The cloaked man quickly said another incantation, causing a white ball of light to come out from his father's chest. He brought out his skeletal hand and grabbed the light, placing it inside of him.

"My work here is done; you can let go of the boy." He waved his bony arm, causing the crimson Balrog to vanish as the black armored men abruptly let go of the boy, causing him to fall towards the floor.

"Farewell, _Shino Terraice_."

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

Shino let out a gasp as he woke up. He placed his hand on his forehead, surprised from the sudden dream he had. He furrowed his brows as he felt a throbbing pain in his head. The nightwalker stood up from the floor bed he was in before leaving the tent he and the others slept in. Shino sat on a log next to the campfire from yesterday's Sun God gathering; it was still lit, the flames strong as ever. He couldn't get that disturbing image of his father out of his mind…it scarred him. Plus, the fact that he couldn't do anything to help his father made him feel weak and useless.

"What are you doing out here?"

Shino turned around; he frowned once he realized exactly who was talking to him.

"Why are you here?" Shino asked, his blue eyes staring straight into Aundrea's brown ones. Aundrea was sitting next to another fire place not far from his.

"Why are you awake?" Aundrea pestered.

"I'm asking you a question, it wouldn't hurt to answer." Shino said, he was becoming more and more irritated each minute.

"Well, I asked you a question first!" The archer countered; she crossed her arms.

"This is _exactly_ why you're so annoying."

"Whatever."

Shino faced the fire once again; the dream was harboring his mind even more. He chucked a piece of wood from the log he was sitting on and threw it in the fire.

Soon enough everyone else woke up, meeting Aundrea outside. Aundrea saw George come out of Sitting Bull's tent. George had an incredibly excited expression on his face compared to the dismayed one he was carrying around yesterday.

"Guys!" The pirate ran towards them.

"What is it?" Jeff asked.

"My parents! They're coming back from the Excavation site! Their group just finished one of their major quests so they'll be here by late noon! God, I haven't seen them in so long."

"Really? That's exciting!" Sera replied.

"Yeah, I'm really going to get to see them. It's been such a long time…"

It almost reminded Aundrea of how long she hadn't seen her parents…It's been nearly two weeks since she left Earth.

"Hey guys, where's Shino?" George asked.

"Inside the tent." Aundrea replied, "Moping."

"Did something happen between you two again?"

Aundrea shrugged.

"Hey, shouldn't we be eating breakfast?" Sera spoke up, "I'm pretty hungry."

"Oh yeah, Sitting Bull said he'll provide us with breakfast." George replied.

"All right, I'll get Shino." Sera went back into the tent that she and the others slept in. Sera stopped in her tracks when she saw her older brother, sitting at the edge of a bed. He absently twirled his dagger between his fingers; Shino seemed to be in deep thought.

"Shino, come on. We're going to Sitting Bull's house to get breakfast." Sera spoke up as she walked closer to her brother.

"I'm not hungry, you guys can go without me."

Sera raised her eyebrow; she knew something was off, "What's wrong?"

Shino hesitated, causing Sera to worry even more. The quietness was making her more anxious as each second passed by.

"I still think about what happened."

"What do you mean?" Sera asked, sitting next to Shino. Shino lowered his head; letting it rest on his palms.

"I had a dream…about Dad." Whenever Shino said mentioned his father, the grotesque images of him, getting clawed to death kept appearing, "About Valor killing him."

"Oh…" Sera replied, looking down as well, "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Shino immediately replied, "I don't like it when people say that."

Sera sat there, unsure of what to say. The tense atmosphere between her and her brother didn't help either.

"You weren't there when he died, so don't worry about it."

When Sera was about to say something, she closed her mouth as she didn't want to complicate things. Sera nodded to Shino, giving him a small smile, before leaving the tent.

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

****What Jeff said about Sitting Bull defeating an X number of Barlogs, I decided to make that up in relation to his nickname.**


	8. Amazon: Perion's Fall

**Woah, I haven't updated this since 2013…**

**If the maplestory fanfic page is still alive, I hope I can get comments on this "outdated" type of story…**

**xxxx**

"Okay, let's go eat!" George exclaimed.

With the exception of Shino, the group of five made their way up to the highest peak of Perion. A larger tent-like house with the same nature as the teepees lie there; it was Sitting Bull's house. George went in first, slightly poking his head in before completely going in. The rest of us came inside as well.

"Ah, you're just on time." The swordsman instructor said; he gestured to a wide variety of plated foods that lay across the ground of the house. A small campfire was situated in the middle of it. Aundrea felt her stomach growl as she was eager to start eating before starting a possibly long day.

"Eat before you train." He added, "It's necessary to get fuel before training."

George nodded, a grin appearing on his face, "That's what you always told me."

"Not too much fuel though or the food will come back out!" Jeff said.

They all shared a short laugh before starting on their breakfast. Aundrea quite appreciated the cuisine in Perion; it was very simple and rustic yet sophisticated in flavor. Smoked wild boar, one of the many dishes served, was incredibly delicious to her. It was a shame that Sera's brother was missing out on this, but it was his loss.

"So, George…in several hours you'll be seeing your parents." Sitting Bull spoke up.

"Of course." The pirate replied, grabbing a chicken drumstick from the assortment of foods, "They'll be so happy to see how I've improved as a pirate."

Aundrea smiled; the happiness in George's voice was spreading to her. She hadn't been able to see her own parents in almost two weeks; it was great to hear someone with good news.

"I hope so." The job instructor replied, then asked, "What type of monsters can you fight at most?"

"Hmm….Zombie mushrooms?" George hesitated, then continued, "Yeah, me and some friends from Nautilus went to the dungeon and fought some of those. It was quite exciting to be honest."

"Nice! I'm glad you're taking interest in fighting, Kyrin has done a job well done."

"Thanks." George said, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

After a few minutes of silent eating, Sitting Bull spoke up again, "Well, I guess I'd better be going; I need to prepare for an Aran meeting. Enjoy your breakfast."

"Okay!" Sera cheerfully said, enjoying every single bit of her food, "Thank you for this!"

"Yeah, thank you!" Jeff added.

"It's my pleasure." Sitting Bull said, before leaving the tent. Aundrea was surprised at how he easily left them alone in his own house. She guessed the people in Perion were very hospitable and welcoming to visitors of any kind.

"This is seriously the best food I've had in a while!" Aundrea said.

"That's what you say for all the places we've visited!" Sera said, playfully punched Aundrea on the arm. She slightly giggled at Mir gobbling up one of the entrees while Jeff was trying to restrain the dragon from messing up the whole place, "Looks like he's enjoying himself."

"Mir let's not eat too much, okay?" Jeff said, slightly patting the small dragon on the back. Mir burped out loud in response, causing a small amount of fire to come out. He immediately cuddled in Jeff's lap, suddenly tired from eating so much.

After they finished their breakfast, or at least most of it, they took some time to rest before deciding, mainly Jeff's idea, to head out to the outskirts of the town to train.

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

"It's a good thing you came along with us! You would have missed all the fun." Sera sarcastically jibed at her older brother.

"Of course." He simply replied, sarcasm dripping out of his words as well, "I can't let you take all the fun for yourself."

Perion was a lot more spacey than the rest of the towns of Maple world. Miles and miles of mountains were what made up the outskirts...no buildings in sight. To Aundrea, this was the best place to test out her archery skills since there were a sparse amount of monsters she could easily aim at.

Most of the monsters that occupied the place were stumps and snails, nothing too hard at all.

"Okay guys; watch this!" Jeff said. He took his staff out and circled it around him before striking it out. Mir opened his mouth, emitting a strike of blue fire, killing two stumps and a snail in the process.

George, Sera, and I eagerly clapped at the spectacle as Shino was busy training himself.

"Now that's something I have to see more often." George said, unfamiliar with magic in general, "You seem very experienced…how long ago did you become an Evan?"

"Only a month ago actually…I left home to start training hard!" Jeff replied, his goofy grin back, "It's been lonely at times, but I guess it's paid off so far."

"What do you plan on doing afterwards?"

"…I'm probably going to stay here for who knows how long since Valor's army might have a hard time getting here." Jeff replied.

Aundrea slowly drowned out Jeff's and George's conversation; she brought her bow out, placing an arrow on the quiver, aiming for a stump. She was going to try test out a specific skill…the double shot, one that she was interesting in mastering from the skill book she got from Athena. The red-head pulled back, and let go, killing two stumps in the process, each arrow hitting one.

"Nice job!" George called out to me.

"Thank you!" Aundrea replied, proud of her small feat, "This was my first time too."

"Congrats." Sera grinned.

"That was pretty cool for someone who just got their first job; imagine what you could do in your second."

Aundrea's smile became wider at the stream of compliments. She suddenly thought of her Mana Vigor…was this what it could do for her? Was Mana Vigor allowing her to quickly master skills such as this? The archer caught Shino giving her a slight glare, as if he were annoyed by the blinding comments she was receiving.

He really was; how could they possibly be so nice to someone that's causing Valor to attack countless cities? It all made him livid. Aundrea, in response, simply ignored him before continuing to train himself.

He eyed stumps several feet away from him. He ran as fast as he could toward the stumps and was about to swing his dagger to attack.

"Watch out!" Someone shouted.

Shino didn't have enough time to react. Instead he bumped headfirst into the person; the two of them simply fell backwards onto the ground.

"Ow…" The person's voice was muffled behind their helmet they wore so he couldn't whether it was a male or female. They saw how pissed off Shino looked and immediately apologized, "I'm sorry!"

They quickly stood up on their feet and brushed the dust off their white and blue kendo robe before holding out their arm to help Shino up. It felt like an eternity before Shino accepted their hand; he/she eagerly pulled him up as well.

"Sorry I was in a hurry..."

Shino raised his eyebrows, unable to hear the person well, "Excuse me?"

The person slightly chuckled before taking their helmet off. Long, silky strands of blue hair fell down to the bottom of her back. She slightly shook some of the hair out of her face, revealing blue eyes lighter than Shino's. The nightwalker looked surprised, probably at the fact that it was a girl wearing such a bulky helmet.

"I said 'Sorry, I was in a hurry'" She smiled; she was quite attractive under the head covering.

"It's okay." He simply replied. When he was about to go about hi business, his sister as well as George ran up to him.

"Hey! Shino! Are you okay?" Sera worriedly said, both halting to a stop once they were close enough, "Are you guys alright?"

"Yes, thanks." The blue-haired girl nodded, "…Sorry about that."

"No worries!" George added, then asked, "What's your name?"

"Erilyn." She replied.

"That's a cute name." The blonde pirate said, his flirtatious nature getting the better of him. Sera couldn't help but to slightly roll her eyes.

"Well…I have to get to an Aran meeting. Sitting Bull will kill me if I'm late." Erilyn said, noticing how long she was here for, "Bye guys!"

She placed her helmet back on and continued to run towards the village.

"What happened?" Aundrea asked, with Jeff behind her.

"Just a small training accident." Sera replied, "Shall we continue training?"

"We shall!" Aundrea replied.

After four long hours of training around the outskirts; the five tiredly sat on huge ledges that made up a block of steps. The sweltering sun shone above them, making Perion feel twice as hot as it already was.

"Wow…we did so much today." Jeff sighed, laying on the ground of the ledge he sat on, "I'm so tired."

"I didn't know that this would drain the life out of me…" Sera added, rubbing her sore and aching muscles.

Jeff nodded, he looked back towards the direction of Perion, "…I guess I should head back to town and pay for an inn…It was nice hanging with you guys."

"Aww…you're leaving us?" Sera slightly pouted.

"Yeah…unless you want to han-"

Jeff immediately stopped his sentence when huge crashing sound was heard. The five of them sat up, even Jeff's dragon, Mir, suddenly woke up from his slumber to the noise. Several more crashing sounds came about with a few faraway screams.

"What was that?" Aundrea said.

"I-I don't know, but It's coming from Perion!" George said, then his eyes widened, completely worry on his face, "…My-my parents are supposed to come around this time."

"Then let's go!" Aundrea suddenly said, a sudden surge of bravery coming through her. Even though it was wiser of them to run away from the noise; George had parents that were possibly waiting for him…plus they had to check if Sitting Bull was okay. It wouldn't be right to leave the place like that.

They all got up on their feet, heading back to Perion.

It was just too unbelievable…Aundrea…or the others for that matter, had never seen such a mess before. Monsters of all kinds were all over the village, people were screaming and running for their lives. Some of the buildings were toppled over, some lit on fire, some destroyed. The archer looked up at the sky, her brown eyes widened; several large black airships loomed above the village.

Did Valor already find them?

"…Oh no, oh no, no no…." Aundrea said to herself, shaking her head, hands on either side of it.

"W-what's going on?!" Jeff exclaimed, looking back and forth at the devastating sights bestowed upon them. His heartbeat rose when he saw at what looked to be like a mother sobbing as her home burned to a crisp, her children trying their best to comfort her. This was all unbelievable…one minute they were peacefully training, the next thing…Perion was in grave danger.

"George! Travelers!"

Aundrea and George turned around and saw Sitting Bull running towards them.

"What's going on here?" George asked.

"It's Valor…his men…you guys have to get out of here." The job instructor said.

George's green eyes trembled, "But my parents! Where are they?"

"I don't know…I'm sorry; we've lost track of almost everyone here." Sitting Bull replied.

The pirate's facial expression deadpanned; he quickly shifted his line of sight…trying his absolute best to find his parents throughout the crowd of people. His expression became more and more desperate as seconds went by…however, it was no use; there was absolutely no sign of his parents. They were nowhere to be found from where they were.

"You have to leave…It's the safest thing to do now-" He said again, but then his eyes widened, "George, watch out!"

He immediately spun his back and saw a giant werewolf-like monster that had to be at least 15 feet. It had thick brown fur with a thicker darker coat surrounding its abdomen. It was about to take a swipe towards George with its giant claws.

Right before it could possibly decapitate George, Aundrea immediately aimed her bow and pulled, ready to let go. She slightly winced, she felt the strangest painful ache all over her body, it was as if she was letting out all her energy.

"Ahh!" Aundrea shouted; it was so incredibly painful; she like she was going to explode inside out any minute.

George, Sera, Jeff, Shino, and Sitting Bull stared at her wide eyed as they saw a red glow emit from her. A surge of red energy went through the arrow, perfectly hitting the werewolf, making it explode into puddles of blood and skin. Aundrea immediately fell to the ground, her bow clattering right next to her.

_Did I just do mana vigor…?_

…_Oh shit._

"Aundrea!" Sera shouted, running up to her. She and George immediately helped her up.

"W-Was that mana vigor?" George whispered, familiar with the all too special skill.

"I…" Aundrea couldn't speak…it wasn't because she was completely fatigued. It was also because she did it in front of everyone here…in plain view. She was too nervous to say anything.

"Guys!" Sitting Bull said, bringing them back to attention, "You don't have time! You have to get out of here!"

"…I can't leave until I find my parents." George firmly said, surprising everyone else, "I've waited too long already."

"I'm sorry but it's no longer safe. Now that we know Aundrea has mana-burn…she's the one Valor is after. Whatever you do, they can't find her. If Valor's men get to her, it will be next to impossible to get her back." Sitting Bull said in an affirmative voice. He was right…the firm tone of his voice clarified that; there was nothing they could do to change anything at this moment. They had to leave. If they stayed any longer, they would kidnap Aundrea.

_Why can't just Valor come himself, if he's so intent on kidnapping me?_

When George was about to say something; he couldn't open his mouth. Instead, he lowered his head, with a very dejected expression.

"Listen to me, you all have to take the ship to Orbis from Ellinea. You'll most likely be safe for long while."

George nodded. Aundrea looked at him; she didn't want to burden them any longer…she could just leave them and Valor would follow, leaving them all alone. She saw how upset he was…he waited for a very long time to see his parents and he literally wasn't going to because of her.

"George…you guys don't have to leave…I can go myself-" Aundrea heard herself say; her voice was strained. She was still tired from her sudden usage of mana burn. It wasn't as bad as last time when she fainted though.

"No, you'll be safer if we go with you. It wouldn't be right for me to leave you like that." He replied. Aundrea's eyes widened.

"Yeah, we're going with you." Sera replied, keeping a hold of the tired Aundrea.

We heard a sudden explosion.

"Good luck." Sitting Bull said.

George nodded.

…And just like that they were off.


	9. Amazon: To Orbis

"Are you sure you can run okay?" Sera said.

"Yeah…" Aundrea replied, "I don't want to slow anyone down."

The five were quickly speeding southeast through the outskirts of Perion towards the forests of Ellinea. Aundrea looked behind her and saw no sign of anyone chasing after them. Aundrea slightly grimaced as she felt the aching in her body; the pain was irritating to deal with, but she had to push through. She was already putting everyone through a lot…she couldn't slow them down as well.

"It's her!"

The five found three men dressed in black suits. They all had glowing crimson eyes. They immediately stopped them from running any further. They all carried large spears.

"Stop where you are. If you resist, then you'll make this a lot harder for her." He said, motioning towards Aundrea.

The archer's heartbeat was rapid; they found her. Now they were going to take her back to Valor. When one of them grabbed Aundrea by the hand, they immediately let go when a stream of flames came out from Mir's mouth, distracting them in the process.

"Run!" Jeff said, placing his staff behind him.

The five immediately sped forwards.

"Get them!"

Aundrea tried her hardest to outrun them, but the pain was overbearing. It felt like her whole body was cramping or that she broke all her bones at once. She looked behind her and saw them catching up.

"Shit-!" She yelled, but immediately stopped when she felt a hand pull on her collar. She looked forwards and saw Shino pulling her, "Ow-ow-ow! My neck!"

"Do you want them to get you?!" He angrily said, switching his hold onto her shoulder pad. Aundrea aggressively shook her head, but was surprised that he actually went out of his way to do this for her. Though, it helped that he was right in front of her while they were running.

**XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX-KODOCHIIR-XX**

Soon enough, saturated green trees started appearing, which meant they were very close to Ellinea. The five of them stopped, exhausted. They were able to outrun the men.

"Did we lose them?" Jeff asked.

"…I hope so." George replied, "We have to get to Sixtopia."

They continued to follow George at a fast pace. As they walked further, the forrest became greener and greener which meant they were going the right way. Aundrea felt total fear envelop her once again…she was scared that they could catch her. It nearly happened once. She was scared about what would possibly happen if they caught her.

"I hope Ellinea hasn't been damaged." Jeff said.

"Valor hasn't gotten there yet, so I doubt it would be." George blankly said, "…He probably might if Grendel isn't lucky."

Once they arrived there; they saw that Ellinea was still in it's original condition. Nothing destroyed, no screaming civilians. However, something was entirely different. There were crowds of people, much moreso than when they were last here.

"Thank goodness…this place is still okay." Sera sighed, "…Now where's Sixtopia?"

"Right over there." George said, pointing to a giant circular entrance with open gates. Above it the words 'Sixtopia' were carved in wooden letters. That's where most of the crowd was heading towards.

"Man…there's going to be so much people on that ship." George sighed, slumping his shoulders, "I hope we can still ride it."

They headed towards the entrance, barely pushing through the slower crowds. For people wanting to escape somewhere they were going awfully slow. Aundrea tip toed from time to time as they were getting closer towards the entrance.

"…Hey, did you know that there's someone with natural mana vigor that Valor is looking for? I didn't know people like that existed…" Aundrea heard someone say. The red-head immediately tensed, lowering herself amidst the crowds. Sera noticed her obvious uneasiness and placed her hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

When they arrived past the entrance, Aundrea saw a wooden dock that simply led to the sky. _This was Sixtopia? _She raised her eyebrows, completely clueless as to why a place like this had its own name. Crowds of people filled that dock, loudly speaking over each other, clear anger evident in their voices.

"Where the hell is that ship?!" Someone shouted, "We're all in danger right now; Valor himself could be here any minute!"

Aundrea and Sera both tip-toed over the crowds, both of them saw men in guard-like uniforms guarding the end of the dock; they were trying their best to calm the crowds down.

"Calm down everyone!" One of the men yelled, trying his darned best to shout over the crowds, "We had to take the first load of people to Orbis because we can't fit all you people in one load; the ship will be here soon!"

"Already?" Aundrea said to herself. People really were taking precautions for this.

"Probably by midnight!" Someone screamed back at the men.

The crowds continued shouting and screaming in anger, some of them even throwing all kinds of stuff towards the guarded men.

"What about Ereve? They have a lot more ships there." Shino spoke up.

"There's probably twice as much people there." George replied, "Since their ships are quicker."

"Let's push them off the dock if they can't even give us good service!" Another person shouted.

"No! Don't! You'll only regret this more!" One of the guards shouted, full-blown anxiety marking his face.

"The ship will be here soon, so just wait!" Another one said.

"We've been waiting here for an hour! The second load ship should have been here 30 minutes!" The person screamed.

The guard's didn't know what to say at this point.

"Push them off! Push them off!" People started chanting.

A large guy went to the front and immediately pushed the men, with much struggle, off the dock, making them plummet down the sky. Probably a 100 feet below…to their death. Some of the people cheered out loud while some others had shocked, disgusted faces, surprised at how they could go so far.

"H-how could people do such a sick thing?" Aundrea stuttered, her mouth wide agape, "…They just killed them."

"I know…Sickening, aren't they?" Jeff said, holding onto Mir.

They continued to watch the immense spectacle that the crowds were making, hoping to god the ship would come soon.

"Guys! Guys! What's going on?" We heard someone right behind us, in a muffled tone of voice. Shino immediately recognized who this was…so did George, after she took off the helmet she wore.

"Erilyn!" George exclaimed, his spark coming back, "How did you get here so quickly?"

"Return scrolls…" She replied.

"Those are so hard to find…" George sighed.

"One minute Perion looks completely normal, the next…there's dozens of army men and airships in the sky, completely destroying the place. We had to get to safety here as fast as we could…but I lost the others." The blue-haired explained, placing her helmet in her bag that was strapped behind her.

"Those were Valor's men, they attacked Perion." George said, earning a shocked look from Eriyln who placed her hand over her mouth, "Now everyone's going nuts about the ship not being here."

"…I can't believe it." She whispered, shaking her head, "Sitting Bull didn't have enough time tell us. He must have known."

"Some of the people here managed to push some guards off the dock too. This is insane, isn't it?" Sera said.

Erilyn frowned, but nodded her head, "There's way too many people up here…"

"Apparently you should see Ereve." Shino replied, continuing to look ahead, "Twice as much people there."

He still probably thought Ereve was worth going to rather than Ellinea because there were a lot more ships for everyone to use.

"Really?" Erilyn replied, "I was about to go there."

Erilyn saw the angry crowd of people chanting for the ship to come. These people were beyond desperate…chanting over and over again like this wasn't going to do anything. It wouldn't make the ship come any quicker.

"God…This is pathetic." She said, "Why is Valor destroying all these cities?"

"…Because of me." Aundrea quietly spoke up, her head lowered. She couldn't believe she just did that. Sera, George, and Jeff looked at her as if she had finally gone crazy. Shino, on the other hand, rolled his eyes.

"I have natural mana vigor. He wants to find me." She continued, making sure to speak quietly. She had no idea why she told her for that matter…maybe it was because she felt somewhat guilty.

Erilyn looked very shocked for a moment, but regained her composure…she didn't know what to say or what to feel. Her myriad of thoughts was interrupted by a series of loud honking noises.

"The ship; it's finally here!" Jeff exclaimed.

"Come on; let's hurry!" George said, motioning towards the ship, "Or we might have to wait for the third load!"

Aundrea let out a sigh of relief…thank goodness their attention was stolen by the giant ship ahead of them. She saw how magnificent it looked. It looked like ship from the colonial era…except that it was floating in the sky. Aundrea tip-toed for what felt to be like the 50th time she was here and saw giant white sails that stretched from the ship itself.

"….Wow." She said to herself. _An actual flying ship…_

"Come on." George said again, snapping Aundrea out of her reverie.

They quickly went through the crowds, making sure to be one of the first on that ship.

"HEY! WATCH IT!"

Aundrea bumped straight into someone. She looked upwards and saw that the person she bumped into was a gargantuan built person with muscles upon his muscles. The man had to be at least 7 feet tall. Aundrea grimaced and immediately backed away.

"…Sorry." She nervously said.

The person gritted his teeth and frowned; he looked very impatient. In fact, he was the same man who pushed the guards off the dock. This made Aundrea feel a twinge of anger even though the guy was easily three times her size.

"Sorry?!" The man growled, "Is that all you have to say?!"

"Well I didn't mean to bump into you!" Aundrea shouted back, her temper getting the better of her.

"You little bitc-"

When he was about to give Aundrea what could possibly be the worst blood sucking punch of her life, Erilyn immediately got in front of her and blocked his hand with her shield. The man grimaced, pain harboring his knuckles.

"She said sorry, so get over it." Erilyn firmly said.

"HEY-" The guy screamed.

"Come on, this guy isn't worth it." Erilyn said, interrupting him again, "…One thing I learned about being an Aran."

Aundrea nodded, a smile forming on her face. She immediately followed, "Thanks Erilyn."

"No problem." She smiled back. Maybe Aundrea could trust her with her "secret" she already impulsively told.

They finally passed through the crowds, reaching the entrance of the ship, only to have another obstacle block them.

"100,000 mesos please." There was a rather short yet stout man standing in front of them, blocking the entrance. He held up a bag of "mesos" that people have previously paid with, a smug smirk lining his face.

"…Are you kidding me?" George said under his breath. Like him, the others couldn't believe it. This had to be some sort of sick, practical joke.

"Bullshit!" I heard someone yell, "We're in danger! It doesn't matter anymore!"

"Well, it does to me. No money, no transportation for you." The man simply said.

"Valor could come here and kill us all, half of us don't have that much money in the first place!" Another person cried.

"Then too bad, half of you are dead anyways. Less problems for me." The man smirked. _What the hell was he doing this for? _Did he not want people to overcrowd his ship or something?

"Sick bastard!" Someone shouted, "Let us on this ship!"

"…Not unless you pay me 100,000 mesos. That's all you have to do. Honest." He said, accepting money that he quickly counted from another person before he let them on the ship.

"I did not come all the way to Ellinea for this…" Shino rolled his eyes; he immediately pushed through more crowds until he was face to face with the obnoxious ticketing man. Aundrea's eyes widened; what was he going to do?

"100, 000 mesos-"

"Excuse me, we're all running for our lives and you're making us pay 100,000 mesos?" Shino interrupted the short man, "…From what I know, tickets to Orbis only cost 10,000."

"What is he doing?" Aundrea said.

Sera shrugged as she stared straight at her older brother, anticipating what he was going say next.

"Of course I'm making you pay that much, I don't want people crowding my ships, especially if they pushed three of my workers off the dock." The man said, frustrated.

"Well you're not making this situation any better, are you?" He said, his impatience was getting to him.

"…and what are you going to do about it, you pathetic fool?" The ticketing man sneered.

That was it. Shino furrowed his brows; if he wasn't going to cooperate…he was going to have to make him, by force.

The nightwalker grabbed the man by the collar, slightly lifting him up. Aundrea's mouth was wide agape…they were going to be in deep trouble for this.

"If you don't let us on right now, I'll throw you off this dock myself." Sera's brother coldly said. Aundrea knew Shino was a cold person by heart, but she didn't realize how intimidating he could make himself sound. She wondered how Sera had to deal with him on almost a daily basis.

The ticketing man looked at Shino, frightened. His obnoxious façade immediately went away; it was replaced with complete fear. Aundrea knew Shino wouldn't do such a thing though.

"F-Fine! J-just let me go!" He cried, his voice sounding feeble and scared. Aundrea wondered how a coward like him could keep people from going on the ship. The red-head slightly smirked, amused.

Shino immediately dropped him back on the ground. The ticketing man let out an 'oof' noise from the drop, but then quickly smirked.

"SECURITY! SECURITY!" He suddenly yeled.

"Oh shit…come on!" George shouted.

They all immediately ran onto the ship, making sure not get tumbled over the crowds that were running at a fast pace too. Someone even managed to punch the ticket guy in the face, knocking him out in the process.

"Oh great, good going Shino…" Aundrea grimaced, realizing that they were going to be caught by who knows if they didn't hide. She gasped once she saw the ticketing man get back up; a bunch of men in uniforms were with him, asking what happened. The ticketing man pointed to the ship, quickly telling them.

"Oh man, now he's going to send them after us." Aundrea groaned, as the six tried hiding behind the cabin entrance of the ship.

"They're not after you so stop whining." Shino glared at Aundrea, earning a frown from her.

"Someone needs to start this ship up soon." George said, as most of the crowds of people have managed to get on already.

"He's right over there! That one!" They heard someone shout, "He was the one that threatened to kill me!"

Aundrea turned back and saw the ticket man point to Shino, as they were barely hidden behind the cabin entrance. The men nodded their heads, knowing what to do next.

"Oh shoot!" Jeff exclaimed.

"Someone start up the ship!" Erilyn shouted. Someone immediately pulled a lever which cause the ship entrance to close.

"NO! YOU OPEN THAT UP RIGHT NOW!" The ticketing man screamed, his face becoming as red a tomato. The person pressed another lever which made the ship slowly rise up.

"…Where's the captain, does this ship drive on its own?" Aundrea said, trying to distract herself from the ticketing man and the "security" men who tried getting the ship to stop.

"It does actually." George replied, looking below as they ship was rising higher and higher. It was a lot faster than Aundrea thought it would be; she looked down in astonishment seeing the bright blue afternoon sky.

"DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!" The ticketing man shouted to one of the officers.

"We can't stop them; they're too high up now." One of the security men replied.

"You all are certainly pathetic excuses for security officers!" The ticketing man screamed.

Sera and Aundrea couldn't contain their laughter in; he got what he deserved…for scamming people for the expense of their life.

The ship began to move forwards, starting their trip to Orbis…


End file.
